William Plowright, Assistant Professor in International Security, Durham University
A few years ago, you might have balked if someone told you that the US president would be photographed in the White House shaking hands with a man who was a former member of al-Qaeda, an insurgent against US forces in Iraq, and had led one of the largest Syrian Islamist armed groups.
But that’s exactly what happened when Donald Trump welcomed his Syrian 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.
Al-Sharaa’s stunning ascendancy 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 in 2024 and ended the family’s 50-year reign.
In the process, HTS also brought the Syrian civil war 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.
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 “from jihad to politics”.
During the latter half of the war, HTS was restricted to its powerbase in the north-western governorate of Idlib. The group began to eschew terrorism by publicly breaking with al-Qaeda, and instead sought to earn trust and provide a legitimate base of governance.
Since taking control of Syria, HTS has continued this public personification of tolerance and stability. The group’s leadership regularly asserts that it is willing to accept diversity and that its primary goal with all parties – even longstanding rival Israel – is peaceful cohabitation.
Al-Sharaa has also worked hard to project a moderate image. He was recently photographed playing basketball with US military commanders – hardly the typical image most of us would have in mind of a former jihadist leader.
Some people have raised concerns 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.
Although the war in Syria has largely ended, it would also be naive to think that sectarian violence has disappeared. Conflicts have broken out between communities including the Druze and Sunni Bedouin groups.
There have also been a string of targeted killings against the Alawite community, the Assad family’s traditional base of support. It is in this context that al-Sharaa undertook his trip to Washington.
US-Syria ties
Since HTS took power, there has been a large international debate 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 US have contemplated working with al-Sharaa in some way.
As far back as 2015, former CIA director David Petraeus suggested that the US should consider working with members of HTS’s predecessor, Jabhat al-Nusra, in the battle against Islamic State (IS). And although HTS was officially listed as a terrorist organisation by the US in 2018, this approach was softened in July 2025.
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 Syria’s borders, al-Sharaa needs allies.
Trump has already revoked most of the US sanctions that were placed on Syria during the civil war – and suspended some more following the meeting in Washington. He will also probably play a role in unlocking World Bank funding for rebuilding in Syria.
The incentives for the US may include gaining an airbase in Syria’s capital, Damascus, that would help it rival Russia’s influence in the region. There is also a rumour that Syria will join the Abraham accords, the agreements normalising diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states, which Trump is pushing to expand. However, this is unlikely as long as Israel occupies the Golan Heights.
Stronger ties between the US and Syria would mean successfully turning Iran’s strongest regional ally away from it, while also helping the US further combat the IS group. During his visit to Washington, al-Sharaa publicly joined the global coalition against IS. Though, in reality, HTS has been fighting the group on the ground for years.
Many regional players have an interest in al-Sharaa’s 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 about a military and security agreement, and he has already visited the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow.
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 north-eastern Syria. They bore the brunt of the war against IS and have already been repeatedly abandoned by Trump in their conflict against Turkish forces. They may not react positively to al-Sharaa’s plans to reunify the country.
It remains to be seen if al-Sharaa can consolidate power, end the sporadic violence in Syria and stabilise 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.
William Plowright does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
