Syria has foiled two separate ISIS plots to assassinate President Ahmed al-Sharaa, two senior officials said.
The sources, a senior Syrian security official and a senior Middle Eastern official, said the plots on Sharaa's life were foiled over the last few months.
According to Reuters, the sources said that, in one case, the ISIS plot was centered around a pre-announced official engagement involving Sharaa, declining to provide further details due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The Syrian information ministry declined to comment.
The reported plots came to light as Syria is poised to join a US-led global anti-ISIS coalition when US President Donald Trump hosts Sharaa on Monday for a historic White House meeting, the first ever by a Syrian head of state.
Over the weekend, the Syrian interior ministry launched a nationwide campaign targeting ISIS cells across the country, apprehending more than 70 suspects, government media said.
The senior Syrian security official said they were acting on intelligence that the group was planning operations against the government and Syrian minority groups.
It was also intended as a message that Syrian intelligence have deeply penetrated the group and that joining the coalition would bring a major asset to global operations against the militants.
