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In the past, Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa would have been arrested for entering the United States for his connections to designated terrorist organisations. Yet this week he spoke at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Al-Sharaa emerged as Syria’s leader in December, a rise to power some international observers found surprising given he is the former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former Islamist alliance which had ties to Al-Qaeda.
Syria is one of the most sanctioned countries in the world and has been crippled by 13 years of conflict.
Yet its current leader says his appearance at the UN shows Syria is reclaiming its rightful place in the world.
“Syria has transformed from an exporter of crisis to an opportunity for peace,” al-Sharaa said in the address.
Less than 12 months ago the US put a $US10 million ($15 million) bounty on his head. But at home in Syria, he has promised elections in October.
Experts say while he is trying to portray the image of diplomat, not terrorist, and may be successfully aligning closer to the US, al-Sharaa may not be able to leave his past behind.
A public image makeover
Amin Saikal, an emeritus professor at the Australian National University, is a specialist in Middle Eastern international relations.
He said al-Sharaa has gone as far as literally changing his name — he fought under the name Abu Mohammed al-Golani — to try to clean up his public image.
“Changing his clothes, changing his surname, changing his words and attitude, does not necessarily mean a lot,” Saikal said.
“You cannot be a member of al-Qaeda, Islamic State, or Jabat al-Nusra and fighting in the region for 25 years without committing crimes and this is what we really need to look at.”
US President Donald Trump appears to have overlooked al-Sharaa’s bloody past.
Trump agreed to lift Assad-era sanctions on Syria during a May trip to the Saudi capital Riyadh where, at the urging of the Saudi and Turkish leaders, he met Sharaa and called the 42-year-old an “attractive, tough guy.”
Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Türkiye who has advocated working with al-Sharaa, said Trump “made a determination within five minutes” on meeting him and even likened the former jihadist to anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.
“Can you trust someone who is a jihadist who is in guerrilla fatigues who’s now standing in front of you in a Tom Ford suit?” Barrack said at the Concordia summit on the UN sidelines.
“The president said: ‘Well, what happened to Nelson Mandela?’ Wasn’t he a foreign terrorist for 27 years?”
In another extraordinary moment for US-Syria relations, al-Sharaa spoke on stage with former US General David Petraeus, who commanded coalition forces in Iraq, where al-Sharaa was detained by US forces from 2006 to 2011.
“His trajectory from insurgent leader to head of state has been one of the most dramatic political transformations in recent Middle Eastern history,” Petraeus told the audience of the Concordia global affairs summit.
Saikal said al-Sharaa’s appearance at the UN and relationship with the US represents a kind of “amoral, unethical” politics where leaders are trying to serve their own interests.
“Anything can happen in the Middle East — this former terrorist is now respected by Western governments even though he fought against them and probably killed many Western soldiers in Syria and Iraq,” Saikal said.
“For a long time the West’s mantra was that they do not negotiate with terrorists but in Syria they have negotiated with a terrorist and now he’s president.”
Trump is supporting Syria even though the US has a close alliance with Israel.
In his UN speech, al-Sharaa warned that Israel, which has repeatedly attacked its historic rival since the fall of Assad, was damaging the new Syria’s prospects.
“I guarantee to bring to justice and hold everyone accountable who was responsible for the bloodshed,” al-Sharaa said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement after the speech that any peace deal between Syria and Israel was “contingent on ensuring the interests of Israel”.
What does al-Sharaa’s switch mean for the Syrian people?
Kinda alSamara is a lecturer in Arabic Studies at the University of Queensland and is Syrian herself.
She told SBS News that if al-Sharaa is genuinely opening Syria up to the rest of the world after more than five decades of dictatorship, it could benefit the Syrian people.
“After decades of self-absorption, false claim of greatness and empty diplomatic achievement (from the Assad family regime), Syria is now turning the page towards a new, more open diplomatic approach,” she said.
“In my opinion, this is a big thing. Instead of waiting for the world to come to Syria, they are reaching out to the world.”
She said sanctions have punished Syrian people while governments have found other sources of money, so lifting the sanctions would improve the country’s humanitarian situation, given 90 per cent of people live below the poverty line.
The United Kingdom and the European Union have started winding back some sanctions against Syria, including those on banks and energy companies, which could increase investment into the country.
According to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia has enforced autonomous sanctions since 2011 in response to the Assad regime’s “deeply disturbing and unacceptable use of violence against its people”.
These sanctions prohibit the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer of arms and technology related to energy power plants to Syria and also make it illegal to import certain fuel and oil products, among other trade restrictions.
Several persons are also sanctioned, meaning it is prohibited to directly or indirectly make an asset available to them.
Syria’s fledgling administration has strived to integrate dozens of the rebel factions into its security forces, including some foreign fighters.
It has struggled to fill a security vacuum left after the collapse of Assad’s defence apparatus and Syria has been plagued by bouts of sectarian bloodletting with armed groups affiliated to the government killing hundreds of civilians from the Alawite and Druze communities.
AlSamara said there is a risk Syria’s leader could be promoting a positive image to the outside world but not working further to ensure the stability and support of people inside the country.
“What people want is there to be transparency and equal rights for all people in Syria, which would put the country in a great position to finally rebuild,” she said.
— With additional reporting by the Agence France-Presse and Reuters news agencies.
