Syria’s new leader tries to reassure the U.S. he is no jihadi

As a former Al Qaeda fighter with a U.S. bounty on his head, experts say Abu Mohammad al-Jolani's first challenge has been proving to the world that he himself is a changed man.

As U.S. diplomats arrived in Damascus on Friday, Syria's de facto new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa will likely have greeted them with a clear message: Under his rule, there will be no threat to the West.

Sharaa, who has dropped his nom de guerre of Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, has been pushing this line in meetings with Western diplomats and the media since rebel forces, led by his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, toppled the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. As his new administration takes charge, he has also called for the United States and other countries to drop sanctions against Syria.

“Now, after all that has happened, sanctions must be lifted because they were targeted at the old regime,” Sharaa, dressed in a smart suit and a white shirt, told the BBC in an interview earlier this week, having abandoned the camouflage military fatigues and turban he once wore as a jihadist leader.

“The victim and the oppressor should not be treated in the same way,” he added.

He has also attempted to move away from his past as a jihadist leader with links to both the Islamic State terrorist group and Al Qaeda.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/syria-sharaa-jolan-reassure-no-jihadi-rcna184478

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