British intelligence began grooming Ahmad al-Sharaa to become president of Syria as early as 2017
News Desk - The Cradle
Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda commander, will become the first Syrian President to address the Assembly since 1967, as well as the first to participate in the High-Level General Assembly Week, which is set to begin on 22 September.
The Syrian President remains under UN sanctions due to his past UN designation as a terrorist. He must obtain a special exemption for any international travel.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani addressed the UN Security Council in April, raising Syria's new flag at UN headquarters.
Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, began his militant career with Al-Qaeda in Iraq following the 2003 US invasion. After the US military released him from detention at Bucca prison, he became a commander for the Islamic State in Mosul.
Islamic State (later ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi then dispatched Sharaa to establish the Nusra Front, a new wing of the organization in Syria.
The Nusra Front enjoyed covert support from the US, UK, Israel, and allied regional intelligence agencies as part of the effort to topple former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Sharaa became well known for dispatching car and suicide bombers to kill civilians in both Iraq and Syria.
Starting in 2017, British intelligence began rebranding Sharaa, changing his image from that of a notorious terrorist seeking the genocide of Syria's minorities to a moderate political leader.
In December 2024, Assad was toppled and Sharaa was installed in power in Damascus. The Nusra Front, by then known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formed the core of Syria's new security forces.
Sharaa was immediately embraced by NATO governments, including the US, Britain, France, and Turkiye, as well as the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The Syrian interim president has held friendly meetings with US President Donald Trump, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Western and Gulf support for Sharaa and his government has persisted even though his extremist Sunni-dominated security forces have carried out major massacres against the country's Alawite and Druze communities.
In March, Sharaa's security forces and allied factions massacred over 1,600 Alawite civilians on the basis of their religion on the Syrian coast.
In July, Sharaa's forces invaded the southern governorate of Suwayda, killing over 1,000 Druze fighters and civilians, including eight children and 30 women, on the basis of their religion as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment