What a tangled web we weave!
Geopolitics has a way of marrying the most unlikely dyads of brides and grooms.
The American government has engaged in its fair share of odd couples over the years, but this one arguably takes the cake: renowned Sunni terrorist Ahmed al-Sharaa and former CIA Director/four-star general David Petraeus, the latter of which described the encounter below as “his privilege” before referring to the former as “His Excellency” and greeting him with the standard Islamic “As-salamu alaykum.”
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Former CIA Director David Petraeus to Ahmed al-Sharaa:
Your vision is powerful and clear. Your demeanor is very impressive as well. We wish you strength and wisdom in the difficult work ahead. We obviously hope for your success, inshallah, because at the end of the day, your success is our success.
Petraeus, with palpable concern, like a tender mother asking after her adult child, also asked al-Sharaa how he was sleeping these days.
Who is this guy who is now the apple of the former CIA Director’s eye?
Under his assumed nom de guerre, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, al-Sharaa’s resume includes:
- Fighting U.S. forces in Iraq beginning in 2003 as a member of al-Qaeda
- Serving as an understudy to renowned terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi prior to his assassination
- Five years imprisonment as an international terrorist by U.S. forces
- Terrorizing Iraq as an Islamic State militant
- Founding and leading the al-Nusra front in Syria to depose al-Assad
Via Ynet News, December 2024 (emphasis added):
The current military commander of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, previously served as the Emir of Jabhat al-Nusra from 2012 to 2016. His real identity remains a subject of speculation, with some sources identifying him as Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa and others as Osama al-Wahdi. Reports about his life are contradictory, adding to his enigmatic reputation…
According to Arab media, al-Julani was born in either 1981 or 1982 in Deir ez-Zor, Syria, and grew up in the Idlib region. He initially studied medicine but dropped out and joined al-Qaida in Iraq in 2003 following President Bush's invasion, where he became close to the infamous Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the group’s leader. After the latter's assassination in 2006, al-Julani relocated to Lebanon but later returned to Iraq, where he was detained by U.S. forces and released in 2008.
Following his release, al-Julani resumed his activities with the Islamic State of Iraq under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In August 2011, amid protests against Assad, al-Julani was sent by al-Qaeda to Syria to establish a branch of the organization. In 2012, he founded Jabhat al-Nusra, calling on Syrians to wage jihad against the Assad regime.
Here’s a before-and-after side-by-side, from when al-Sharaa was running his own little terror fiefdom and what he looks like now that he’s been rebranded, with the apparent full backing of the American government, as a respectable statesman.
Syria's unelected "president" (read: dictator) Ahmed al-Sharaa (the terrorist formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani) was part of ISIS and then the leader of Al-Qaeda's largest affiliate on Earth.
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) September 23, 2025
Now the US gov't praises him, because he has made Syria into a US client state. https://t.co/tGDuqDTHsu pic.twitter.com/DiNhgvxNF9
Back in 2017, before his alleged reclamation and usherance into the neoliberal fold, al-Sharaa had a $10 million bounty placed on his head — by the U.S State Department.
We remain committed to bringing leading AQS figures in HTS to justice. #Syria pic.twitter.com/R8evqffWum
— U.S. Embassy Syria (@USEmbassySyria) May 15, 2017
What has al-Sharaa been up to so far this year?
Is he truly the statesman bent on unifying Syria?
Maybe not so much.
As Islamic fundamentalists tend to do, he’s been massacring all manner of minority groups in Syria, including Christians.
Via Catholic News Agency, July 7, 2025 (emphasis added):
Allies of the new Syrian government and other non-state actors have continued violence and discrimination against Christians, Druze, and Shia Muslims, according to a new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
Syrian rebels, many of whom were affiliated with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), toppled former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in late 2024. The report notes that HTS members, many of whom were foreign fighters, engaged in mass killings and other forms of persecution against religious minorities during the overthrow of Assad and have continued violations after taking control of the government.
Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, commanded HTS during the revolution. He was also previously a member of al-Qaeda. In addition to HTS, the report also noted that members of Turkish-backed political opposition and militias (TSOs) and other organizations that engaged in mass killings and religious liberty violations have been welcomed into high-ranking positions in the new Syrian government…
The most egregious violence after the new government took control was waged against Alawite Muslims — a Shia sect to which Assad and many of his allies belonged — and against Druze — an Abrahamic religion that is separate from Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.
According to the report, unidentified rebels burned the homes of civilian Alawites in Latakia and waged an arson attack against an Alawite shrine in Aleppo last December. It also notes that men who may have been affiliated with the new government executed Alawites and members of the Twelver Shia sect in the Hama province.
The report notes in January and February, HTS loyalists conducted “door-to-door interrogations and select executions” of Alawite Muslims around the Mediterranean coast. In March, the report adds, “the murders escalated to full-blown sectarian massacres” of Alawites in Latakia and Tartus based on allegations of “pro-Assad remnants.”
Ethnic cleansing of non-Sunni undesirables must be the “powerful and clear vision” Petraeus referenced.
