{"id":48214,"date":"2025-11-12T21:36:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T21:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/11\/12\/how-ahmed-al-sharaa-ended-up-being-welcomed-to-the-white-house\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:15:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:15:34","slug":"how-ahmed-al-sharaa-ended-up-being-welcomed-to-the-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/opinion\/2025\/11\/12\/how-ahmed-al-sharaa-ended-up-being-welcomed-to-the-white-house\/","title":{"rendered":"How Ahmed al-Sharaa ended up being welcomed to the White House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article <\/i>here<\/i><\/a>. <\/i>The Conversation<\/i><\/a> is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago, you might have balked if someone told you that the U.S. president would be photographed in the White House shaking hands with a man who was a former member of al-Qaeda, an insurgent against U.S. forces in Iraq, and had led one of the largest Syrian Islamist armed groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s exactly what happened when Donald Trump<\/a> welcomed his Syrian<\/a> counterpart, Ahmed al-Sharaa, to Washington on November 10. Al-Sharaa became the first Syrian leader in history to be invited to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Sharaa\u2019s stunning ascendancy<\/a> to power has seen him become an almost mythic figure in Middle Eastern regional politics. As the head of an armed group known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), he overthrew Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad<\/a> in 2024 and ended the family\u2019s 50-year reign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the process, HTS also brought the Syrian civil war<\/a> to a close. This was a brutal 13-year period in which more than 600,000 lives were lost and more than 6.5 million people were displaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Sharaa has complicated roots in the broader al-Qaeda family, but he has long taken steps to distance himself from that legacy. His approach has been described by some observers as shifting \u201cfrom jihad to politics.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the latter half of the war, HTS was restricted to its powerbase in the northwestern governorate of Idlib. The group began to eschew terrorism by publicly breaking<\/a> with al-Qaeda, and instead sought to earn trust and provide a legitimate base of governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since taking control of Syria, HTS has continued this public personification of tolerance and stability. The group\u2019s leadership regularly asserts that it is willing to accept diversity and that its primary goal with all parties \u2014 even longstanding rival Israel \u2014 is peaceful cohabitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Sharaa has also worked hard to project a moderate image. He was recently photographed playing basketball<\/a> with U.S. military commanders \u2014 hardly the typical image most of us would have in mind of a former jihadist leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have raised concerns<\/a> that HTS is only pretending to be moderate and is hiding its true intentions. Others have noted conservative policies that were put in place while HTS was in control of Idlib.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the war in Syria has largely ended, it would also be naive to think that sectarian violence has disappeared. Conflicts have broken out<\/a> between communities including the Druze and Sunni Bedouin groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have also been a string of targeted killings<\/a> against the Alawite community, the Assad family\u2019s traditional base of support. It is in this context that al-Sharaa undertook his trip to Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
People with Syrian flags rally outside of the White House on Monday following Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s meeting with President Donald Trump. (Jacquelyn Martin\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

U.S.-Syria ties<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since HTS took power, there has been a large international debate<\/a> over how to engage with the new regime in Syria. Clearly, the approach of the Trump administration is to be pragmatic. This is not the first time that powerful figures in the U.S. have contemplated working with al-Sharaa in some way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far back as 2015, former CIA director David Petraeus suggested<\/a> that the U.S. should consider working with members of HTS\u2019s predecessor, Jabhat al-Nusra, in the battle against Islamic State (IS). And although HTS was officially listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 2018, this approach was softened<\/a> in July 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question remains of what Trump and al-Sharaa want from each other. The legitimacy granted by the trip to Washington is incentive enough for al-Sharaa, but he stands to gain more. With an aggressive and retaliatory Israel still occupying the Golan Heights and other parts of southern Syria, and regularly bombing inside<\/a> Syria\u2019s borders, al-Sharaa needs allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has already revoked most of the U.S. sanctions that were placed on Syria during the civil war \u2014 and suspended some more<\/a> following the meeting in Washington. He will also probably play a role in unlocking World Bank funding for rebuilding in Syria<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incentives for the U.S. may include gaining an airbase in Syria\u2019s capital, Damascus, that would help it rival Russia\u2019s influence in the region. There is also a rumor that Syria will join the Abraham accords, the agreements normalizing diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states, which Trump is pushing to expand<\/a>. However, this is unlikely as long as Israel occupies the Golan Heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stronger ties between the U.S. and Syria would mean successfully turning Iran\u2019s strongest regional ally away from it, while also helping the U.S. further combat the IS group. During his visit to Washington, al-Sharaa publicly joined<\/a> the global coalition against IS. Though, in reality, HTS has been fighting the group on the ground for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many regional players have an interest in al-Sharaa\u2019s project succeeding. Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan want an end to conflict on their borders and to see refugees return home, while Saudi Arabia is keen to steal Syria as an ally from Iran. Al-Sharaa is even in talks with Israel<\/a> about a military and security agreement, and he has already visited<\/a> the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shia-led Iraq is likely to be at best suspicious and at worst hostile to al-Sharaa, though both it and Iran may be left with no choice but to accept the new status quo. And this is to say nothing of the Kurds in northeastern Syria. They bore the brunt of the war against IS and have already been repeatedly abandoned by Trump<\/a> in their conflict against Turkish forces. They may not react positively to al-Sharaa\u2019s plans to reunify the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It remains to be seen if al-Sharaa can consolidate power, end the sporadic violence in Syria and stabilize the country. An unstable Syria means an unstable Middle East, and an unstable Middle East is a problem well beyond the borders of the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Plowright is an assistant professor in international security at Durham University.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n\"The\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The question remains of what Trump and al-Sharaa want from each 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