Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is scheduled to visit the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack announced on Saturday. The visit marks what will be the first-ever visit by a Syrian head of state and could cap off the months-long campaign to pull the new Syrian regime into the U.

Less than a year after his lightning power grab, Syria’s president is capping his transformation from jihadist to global statesman in a historic visit to the White House that says as much about the young leader as it does his push for his country’s diplomatic reinvention.