Trump Praises 'Young, Attractive' President Sharaa, Founder Of Al Qaeda In Syria

"Trump described the terrorism elephant in the room by telling reporters aboard Air Force One just after the meeting that Sharaa was a "young, attractive guy — tough guy" with a "strong past" and that he now has an opportunity to stabilize Syria.

As a last major event while still on the ground in Saudi Arabia, and before embarking for Qatar, President Donald Trump met with Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa. This signifies a monumental, historic shift in the entire regional order. We are witnessing the final blood soaked after-effects of the culmination of what was laid out in Seymour Hersh's The Redirection, a policy which began all the way back in the Bush administration.

Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, got his start early in the Syria war as an emissary of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and later became founder of Syrian al-Qaeda, called Jabhat al-Nusra. The terror group went through several name changes, and is now the ruling Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the wake of Bashar al-Assad's December ouster. The CIA had helped the group take over Idlib in 2015.

Trump had yesterday in a speech before the US-Saudi Investment Forum described that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had asked him to remove the long in place sanctions against Syria. Trump expressed hope that the country could become stable again under its new rulers. "The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important — really an important function — nevertheless, at the time. But now it’s their time to shine," he said. "So I say, 'Good luck, Syria.' Show us something very special."

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