Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa desperately sought a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump while he was traveling this week in the Middle East to ease sanctions and improve relations.
Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, now refers to himself by his birth name as Ahmed al-Sharaa (Muhammad al-Jawlani). He was the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Syrian militant group that evolved from the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra.
Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Jolani and HTS took control Syria, including the capital city, Damascus.
Al-Jolani has been working to persuade the international media and foreign powers that he has transitioned from a terrorist commander to a statesman, but skepticism remains about whether such a transformation is genuine.
On Wednesday President Trump met with al-Jolani in Saudi Arabia.

More photos. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was with Trump during the meeting.
عاجل..
بدعوة كريمة من ولي العهد الأمير محمد بن سلمان..
الرئيس الأمريكي والسوري و (التركي هاتفيًا) يعقدون في الرياض لقاءً حول مستقبل الأوضاع في سوريا، وتأكيد أهمية استقرارها وسيادتها ووحدة أراضيها، وتحقيق الأمن والرخاء للشعب السوري.
— أخبار السعودية (@SaudiNews50) May 14, 2025
President Trump also held a phone call with the Turkish President, the Syrian, and Saudi leader.
In a recent interview Ahmad Sharaa (Julani) told reporters President Trump is a man who will “achieve great peace in the world.”
In a recent interview with the UK’s The Rest Is Politics, Syria’s self-appointed president and former Al Qaeda affiliate, Ahmad Sharaa (Julani), said he believes US President Donald Trump is a man who will ‘achieve great peace in the world.’ pic.twitter.com/IcAKa3NSVo
— TMJ News Network (@tmjnewsnetwork) February 23, 2025
Syrian leader Al-Julani offered President Trump access to Syria’s oil and gas, normalization with the “Zionist entity,” and even a “Trump Tower” in Damascus — all in exchange for lifting sanctions.
THis was a remarkable meeting. Who else could have made this happen except Trump?
#Trump asked #Julani to #Syria to sign the Ibrahimi Agreement, expel foreign agents, and take over ISIS detention centers; Al-Shara invited American companies to invest in oil and gas; Erdogan also participated in the meeting via video conferencehttps://t.co/ZN6V0sm5ZM pic.twitter.com/YFgquZAD2T
— Tavasoli parsa (@TavasoliKazem) May 14, 2025
Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.
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