Ahmed Al-Shara’s Foreign Jihadist Problem

Excerpt

When Trump met Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Shara, in Riyadh, he couldn’t stop praising him. “He’s a young, attractive guy—tough guy,” Trump said. “He’s got a real shot at pulling it together.” The White House cast the meeting as a breakthrough, announcing sanctions relief and backing engagement with Shara’s government as a path to stability and an opportunity to counter extremists. 

Trump even sent longtime ally Thomas Barrack as a special envoy, who praised Shara for “taking meaningful steps” on tackling foreign terrorist fighters. 

But in the weeks since, Shara has done exactly the opposite. Rather than removing extremists, he’s absorbing them into his unified national army. The new government’s approach folds groups affiliated with the world’s most dangerous jihadists into Syria’s armed forces. 

Up to 3,000 fighters from the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP)—a Uyghur-led jihadist group tied to Al Qaeda—have been integrated into Syria’s new military under Shara’s watch. This isn’t happening in secret. “There is an understanding, with transparency,” Barrack said of the move, signaling that Washington gave it its blessing. 

Ahmad Sharawi is a research analyst at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, focusing on Middle East affairs, specifically the Levant, Iraq, and Iranian intervention in Arab affairs, as well as U.S. foreign policy toward the region.