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Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of the largest Syrian rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has now become the de facto ruler of Syria, or rather of about half of Syria, because he does not control the Alawite-populated coastal areas of Latakia and Tartous, nor the area south of Damascus inhabited by the Druze, nor the vast areas in northeast Syria, where the Kurds have enjoyed a nearly autonomous rule. He’s traded in his battle fatigues for a coat and tie, meant to reassure the world, and especially the West, that he has truly cut all ties to Al-Qaeda and is now a “moderate” with whom the West can deal, and even support financially. The EU immediately, and with astounding foolishness, handed him $4.6 billion, but Washington has refused to remove the sanctions placed on Syria during Assad’s rule until it sees how things develop in Syria: will al-Sharaa indeed protect all minorities — the Alawites, the Kurds, the Druze, and the Christians — or will the Sunnis be allowed to terrorize those same minorities, as they did to the Alawites between March 7 and March 10, when Sunni gangs, including some members of the rebel groups such as HTS, murdered 3,0000 Alawites, almost all of them civilians? So far, though al-Sharaa has promised to punish those responsible, it does not appear that a single Sunni has yet been arrested for murdering the Alawites. More on Ahmad al-Sharaa, and whether he deserves to be believed when he presents himself as a “moderate” who has cut all of his previous ties to Al-Qaeda, can be found here: “Don’t believe the nonsense about the new Syrian president’s reform,” by Michael Rubin, Washington Examiner, March 16, 2025:
In the last weeks of the Biden administration, Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf traveled to Syria to meet Ahmad al-Sharaa, the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham leader whose December 2024 march on Damascus ended the Assad family’s half-century reign of terror. At the time of their meeting, Sharaa was still a wanted terrorist in the United States with a $10 million bounty for information leading to his arrest because of his previous embrace of al Qaeda. Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, meanwhile, remains a designated terrorist group even as the U.S. and international community treat its members as the de facto leaders of Syria.
On its face, al-Sharaa’s claim to leadership is farcical. His coalition, on paper, controls at most half of Syria. He has no direct sway over either the Kurdish-governed northeastern region or the Druze region in southern Syria; his control in the Alawi regions along the Mediterranean Coast is shaky at best….
While the Kurds have agreed to incorporate their own Syrian Democratic Forces into the Syrian national army, and on paper have agreed that “all civil and military institutions in northeastern Syria” be merged “into the administration of the Syrian state, including border crossings, the airport, and oil and gas fields.,” it is still not sure whether, in practice, this will be achieved. Turkey is not just the chief backer of al-Sharaa and the HTS, but also the arch-enemy of the Kurds, and might decide to keep its forces permanently in northeast Syria in order to make sure the Kurds in Syria are prevented from linking up with the Kurds inside Turkey. At this point, al-Sharaa does not dare to oppose anything the Turks wish to do. Will the Kurds, having at first agreed to merge their own armed forces with the Syrian national army, not ultimately rebel at this state of affairs, and instead want their own SDF forces to pull out of the national army in order to defend their fellow Kurds, in the Kurdish area of northeast Syrian known as Rojava, from Turkish aggression?
President Donald Trump prides himself on not letting history be a constraint. In his first term, his willingness to break diplomatic China led to the Abraham Accords and European states contributing more defense spending to NATO.
It would be ironic if, in his second term, he let the wishful thinking of the State Department and some think tankers empower terrorists and extremists at the expense of religious freedom and U.S. national security. Trump should reimpose the bounty of al-Sharaa and revoke even de facto recognition of his Turkish-backed regime.
Al-Sharaa is not to be trusted. For years, he was a member of Al-Qaeda; before that he supported the Islamic State. He has tried to persuade the West that he is a new man, one who deserves aid from the West to rebuild his ruined country. But under his rule, Sunnis, including members of his own group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, have felt sufficiently emboldened to have taken part in the massacre of 3,000 Alawites. He has promised to punish the killers, but so far nothing has been done. And sporadic killings of Alawites continue outside of Latakia. Sunni Muslims have also been threatening another minority, the Druze, who live between Damascus and the southern border with Israel; so worrisome are these threats that some of the Druze have openly called on Israel to protect them.
The Americans should continue to treat al-Sharaa with deep suspicion. Instead of lifting the sanctions placed on Syria during Assad’s rue, the Trump administration should declare that they will remain in force, until the new Syrian government does more than pay lip service to the need to protect minorities. Al-Sharaa must round up and punish Sunnis who took part in the recent massacres of Alawites, including members of HTS. The Americans can further insist that in the new government, certain posts be reserved for each of the minorities — Alawites, Kurds, Christians, Druze — so that they will feel they are genuinely part of the new government. The Kurds, in particular, need to be reassured by al-Sharaa that he will work to persuade the Turks to pull out of their bases in northeast Syria, where they now keep tabs on the Kurds. Al-Sharaa has announced that it will take “4 to 5 years” until presidential elections can be held; that is far too long for the people of Syria to wait to express their views through voting. The Americans should insist on a much shorter timetable — one to two years — until elections are held.
Finally, the Americans should demand that al-Sharaa organize without delay the repatriation of those Syrians who fled Syria during the civil war for the countries of Western Europe. As of December 2023 (the most recent data available), nearly 180,000 Syrians held longterm residency in EU countries, and more than 300,000 had taken EU citizenship since 2013. In addition, 780,000 Syrians living in the European Union still hold refugee status or subsidiary protection. These more than 1.3 million Syrians in Western Europe constitute both a demographic and a security threat to the non-Muslims among whom they now live; let them go back to Syria, where they no longer face persecution, and where they will no longer threaten the wellbeing of non-Muslims in Europe. These are the minimum demands to be made on al-Sharaa. Once he has satisfied the Americans on every score, then, and only then, can Washington consider lifting its sanctions on the regime.
