President Donald Trump met with Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharra today to build new relations with the country, the first time the U.S. president has met with his leader in decades. But it is unclear what kind of relationship the United States will have with people once called al-Qaeda terrorists.
"We live in a very unusual world, suddenly those who claim to be Western hatred are now accepted as potential allies and partners," said Sajjan Gohel, director of international security at the Asia-Pacific Foundation.
Al-Sharaa's Nom de Guerre is Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who has been on radar in the United States due to his association with Al-Qaeda's former branch in Syria, and his efforts have united the faction (called "Nusrah Front") with the initial introduction to ISIS, as well as his initial introduction to US.
Al-Sharaa promised allegiance to al-Qaeda as part of the 2003 Iraqi insurgency and was sentenced to prison in Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison. Al-Sharaa's statement and experts in the region, he moved his loyalty and alliance to lead Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and after years of stalemate, overthrew the Assad regime in December.
His clothes have gone from military fatigue surrounded by weapons to more ordinary uniforms, according to publicly available photos, and have now transformed into fighting alongside Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Trump.
Now the United States has asked him to recognize Israel, expelled from Palestinian terrorists, told foreign fighters to leave Syria and helped the United States to stop any revival of ISIS in the region. The United States has a history that over time, the U.S. government considers terrorists or terrorist-related leaders, from Proudois leader Yasser Arafat to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Defence Foundation of Democratic Countries, said the U.S. sanctions on Syria were swift. "It's too early," he said in a social media post. "It's not enough to know."
But the Persian Gulf said, and some Trump administration officials, viewing Syria’s new president as a leader, could eventually bring stability to a country that has been regionally unstable for years. Experts say they are willing to gamble and the Syrian president will fulfill his commitments to avoid returning to dictatorship and civil war.
Saudis say they are ready to cancel Syria's outstanding debts to international institutions, and the Qataris promise to pay the country's civil servants.
Experts want to know which version of Al-Sharra will lead Syria and whether his discriminatory policies foreshadowed by the Cabinet are targeting women and minorities in the country.
"The best analogy to describe Al-Sharaa is that he is like a transistor broadcast that regulates his message," Gohel said. "He can interact with jihadists who are worried about being close to the West, and he can also pivot toward Westerners who are worried about their interactions with jihadists."
Al-Sharaa's first introduction to the United States in the Middle East took place in 2003, when he traveled from Syria to Iraq before the U.S. invasion. Iraqi authorities took over al-Sharaa during the Second Gulf War, according to public records and his own statements.
He was imprisoned in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, and there was also the now-dead ISIS leader Omar al-Baghdadi.
According to al-Sharaa, the arrest comes after he promised allegiance to al-Qaeda and is part of Iraq's opposition to U.S. rebellion. Eventually, he was under the command of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the notorious terror leader was responsible for the death of more than 700 Americans in Iraq (according to previous NBC News) and the bomb bomb was killed.
After leaving Iraq, al-Sharaa spent some time fighting the Syrian regime, while also fighting the different factions of the Syrian regime.
In a 2021 interview with a documentary producer, the filmmaker aired a circa 9/11 speech on PBS's "frontline" Al-Sharaa and how he felt after the attack. Abu Mohamed Giorani | Frontline
“First of all, anyone living in the Islamic world, in the Arab world, will lie to you,” he said, “because people feel the unjustness of Americans to Zionists, support for Zionists, policy for Muslims in general, and clear and strong support for tyrants in the region.”
He added: "But people will certainly regret killing innocent people."
Since taking power, Al-Sharra has promised that Syria’s minorities include women, Christians and the Alavis will be protected under his government.
"Ahmed al-Sharaa's optical technology is very important, and he is trying to frame his regime as supporting women's rights, and he is eager to have a specific view of his intentions that are considered Western tasty," Gohel said.
But the people he was elected to the leadership position were carefully examined, and their views raised questions about the severity of these efforts, experts said.
When HTS first came to power in Syria, Gohel said she was also the only government Christian until Al-Sharaa appointed Aisha al-Dibs as head of women's affairs.
However, an education minister was accused of controlling a policy that would portray female historical figures in the Levant, rather than being like living figures, but fictional. Another minister of the Alasa government has a history of declaring women dead, accusing them of profanity.
"There are some people in his administration who are very misogynistic," Gohel said.
Based on his experience in studying hundreds of terrorist attacks and terrorist organizations around the world, Gohel said Al Sharaa’s tolerance for misogyny is not ideal for our counter-terrorism efforts.
“Any entity that does not condemns misogynistic or allows misogyny to become part of state institutions will not become an ally in the counter-terrorism efforts,” he said.
Schanzer of the Democratic Defense Foundation said the bets were huge. If Al-Sharaa can stabilize Syria, it can help Syrians, the region and the United States, if not, Syria can reappear as a major security threat.
"If things go bad," Schanzer said, "Today, the Muslim Brotherhood jihadists in the heart of the Levant have paved the way. ”
The White House's readings of Trump's meeting with al-Sharaa suggested Wednesday that Syrians hope to assist the U.S. terrorism efforts to strengthen U.S. relations.
Syria still has camps in detention filled with many ISIS prisoners. We and Euoprean counter-terrorism leaders want to see them imprisoned and surveillance so that ISIS has not been resurrected in Syria and the region and have another attack in the West.
According to a White House memo, the United States also asked al-Sharaa to expel foreign fighters.
The problem with al-Sharaa and the United States is where these foreign fighters should go.
"I really care about the dynamics of this kind of foreign fighter jet," Gohel said.