Is Syria's new president a U.S. ally or enemy?

President Trump met with Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharra, today to forge a new relationship with the country. But what kind of relationship the U.S. will have with a person they once called an Al-Qaeda terrorist remains unclear.

President Donald Trump met Wednesday with Syria’s new leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, in an effort to forge a new relationship with the country, the first time a U.S. president has met with its leader in decades. But what kind of relationship the U.S. will have with a person it once called an Al Qaeda terrorist remains unclear. 

“We’re living in a very unusual world where suddenly people who professed hatred of the West and in particular the United States are now being accepted as potential allies and partners,” said Sajjan Gohel, international security director at the Asia Pacific Foundation.

Al-Sharaa, whose nom de guerre is Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, has long been on the U.S.’ radar because of his associations with Al Qaeda’s former branch in Syria, his efforts to unite that faction (called the Nusrah Front) with the Islamic State terrorist group, or ISIS, and his initial introduction to the U.S. when he was taken into custody in Iraq. 

Al-Sharaa pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda as part of the Iraq insurgency in 2003 and was jailed at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. In the nearly two decades that followed, he shifted his allegiances and alliances to head up Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which after years of stalemate, overthrew Bashar al-Assad's regime in December, according to al-Sharaa’s published statements and experts on the region. 

His clothing style has changed from wearing military fatigues surrounded by weapons, to a more plain military uniform, and now to business suits standing side by side with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Trump, according to publicly available photos.