Syria's new ruler is politically astute - but can he keep his promises?

Ahmed al-Sharaa is intelligent, astute and reluctant to say what sort of country he wants.

British Broadcasting CorporationWatch LiveHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthVideoLiveHomeNewsIsrael-Gaza WarWar in UkraineUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC InDepthBBC VerifySportBusinessExecutive LoungeTechnology of BusinessFuture of BusinessInnovationTechnologyScience & HealthArtificial IntelligenceAI v the MindCultureFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsArtsArts in MotionTravelDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthNatural WondersWeather & ScienceClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingVideoLiveLive NewsLive SportHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthVideoLiveAudioWeatherNewslettersJeremy Bowen: Syria's new ruler is politically astute - but can he keep his promises?Watch: BBC speaks to Syrian rebel leader Ahmed al-SharaaWhen I left London almost two weeks ago after the rebel coalition captured Aleppo - a stunning victory dwarfed by what followed - I thought I would be reporting a shooting war.

The group known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, was sweeping all before it, but I assumed that the regime would fight, as it did not stop doing as it was losing ground in the years before the Russians intervened in 2015 to bomb Syrian towns and villages to rubble.

Almost a decade later, it was clear that Bashar al-Assad's Russian, Iranian and Lebanese allies had other wars to think about.

But while the regime struggled with unwilling conscripts, it could always find Syrians who were prepared to fight and die for it, even at the height of the war after 2011, when rebels controlled much of Damascus outside the city centre and the road to Beirut.

I visited those men on the front line many times.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx8zy8r8jro

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