On November 10, 2025, the White House will receive with full honors Donald Trump, who until very recently was among the most wanted enemies of the United States. Ahmed Hussein Al-Sharaa, known by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad Al … Al-Julani received a reward of $10 million for his arrest, and appeared on all international terrorist lists, along with the leaders of the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda.
Sharia He was a veteran of the Iraqi insurgency against American forces. Member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, A prisoner at Abu Ghraib and other high-security prisons, and founder of the Al-Nusra Front in Syria, an organization created with direct support from Al-Qaeda and responsible for some of the bloodiest events of the Syrian civil war.
US intelligence considered him politically and military responsible for a structure accused of suicide attacks such as the Maidan attack in 2012, the largest bombings in Damascus in 2012 and 2013, sectarian massacres such as those in Hatla and Ziraa, ethnic cleansing against Shiite, Alawite, Christian and Druze communities, and attacks in Lebanon against Shiite civilians, including the double attack in Tripoli and the attack on Iranian Embassy in Beirut. In 2014, he publicly threatened to take the war “into the heartland” of the United States. And its allies if they continue to bomb Syria.
Today he is in Washington, under the protection of the Secret Service, and ready to negotiate with Trump under the protection of the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who personally mediated on his behalf. His visit is completed by an unusual and deliberate image transformation: from a persecuted jihadi leader to a legitimate interlocutor for the forces that previously fought him.
In 2013, the US State Department described it in no uncertain terms: “The violent and sectarian vision of al-Julani and his Nusra Front is inconsistent with the aspirations of the Syrian people, including The overwhelming majority of the opposition, which seeks a free, democratic and inclusive Syria, With a government that respects national unity, dignity, human rights and equality before the law, without discrimination on the basis of religion, race or gender. Washington then warned that “extremism and terrorist ideology have no place in a post-Assad Syria” and called on “all responsible Syrians” to condemn Al Qaeda and its affiliated groups.
Al-Sharaa arrived in the United States on Saturday on a historic official visit
It is the first Syrian president to visit Washington since the country’s independence in 1946. His visit comes just one day after the State Department removed him from the terrorist list, a move that reflects the change in policy towards Damascus after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Washington justified the decision by pointing to the progress made by the new Syrian government in cooperating to locate missing Americans and eliminate chemical arsenals.
According to American diplomatic sources Plans to establish a military base near Damascus To coordinate humanitarian aid and monitor relations between Syria and Israel. US envoy Tom Barrack announced that the Syrian president may sign an agreement to integrate his country into the international coalition against ISIS, in an attempt to strengthen its image as a regional security partner and break with the jihadist past.
The meeting represents the culmination of the transformation witnessed by Sharia. The United Nations lifted sanctions on him days before his trip, and his former group, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, was removed from the US list of terrorist organizations in July. In North American diplomacy, this visit is interpreted as the culmination of a process of political rehabilitation, and as evidence of the interest of Trump and his allies, especially Saudi Arabia, in integrating the new Syria into the post-war regional order.
Upon his arrival in the United States, Al-Sharaa appeared in a video broadcast on social media playing basketball alongside the head of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, and with Kevin Lambert. Responsible for the international coalition against ISIS in Iraq. The departure was interpreted as a calculated signal of normalization. The man who fought against US forces in Iraq and Syria, and who led a faction designated as a terrorist, now appeared to be laughing and sharing the field with the same leaders who led the war against his organization.
He was arrested by American forces in Iraq
He is accused of belonging to Al-Qaeda and participating in the rebellion against the occupation, including the use of explosives. He was caught planting a bomb, and after convincing Iraqi authorities that he was a local citizen using an alias, he spent more than five years as a prisoner in various detention centers, including Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca, Camp Cropper, and Camp Taji, without any known regular judicial proceedings against him.
The previous meeting between Trump and Al-Sharaa was held on May 14, 2025 in Riyadh. During the US President’s regional tour in the Middle East. It was a closed-door meeting, without press, sponsored by the Saudi Crown Prince, and served as an announcement of the lifting of US sanctions on Syria, a gesture celebrated by Gulf monarchies seeking to invest in rebuilding the country after more than a decade of civil war.
Trump then described Shara as a “handsome, strong man with a strong past” but who had a “real chance to stabilize Syria.” At the request of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the US President agreed to remove his name and the name of his government from the sanctions lists, and encouraged him to adhere to the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel. Washington explained that the goal is to prevent Damascus from relying on Russia or Iran again.
This meeting marked the beginning of his international rehabilitation. The image of Sharia changed rapidly: From rebel leader and former jihadist to potential partner in regional security. Since then, Syria began receiving Arab and European economic delegations, and a diplomatic channel was opened, which now culminates in his official visit to the White House.
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