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From radical insurgent with a $10 million bounty on his head to a red carpet welcome at the White House, the rebranding of Syria’s Ahmed al-Sharaa is now complete.
The former jihadist has become the first-ever Syrian president invited inside the Oval Office. We ask about the terms and conditions of a visit that surely seals a regional realignment on a scale unseen since the 1979 fall of the Shah of Iran. How much did backers Turkey and Saudi Arabia press for this moment?
Where does it leave Israel, who on the same day is getting a visit from the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to remind his hosts to play nice with the Turks during phase two of the Gaza peace initiative? Does this all mean that the same Donald Trump who campaigned against foreign interventions will wind up involving the United States more – not less – in the Middle East?
And where does it leave Syria, where the US still backs the Kurds in the fight against the Islamic State group and where Christian and Druze minorities have plenty of reason to doubt Sharaa’s promise of guaranteeing their safety?
More broadly, how soon can the new masters of Damascus deliver a peace dividend to citizens still reeling from decades of dictatorship, corruption and civil war?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente & Jean-Vincent Russo
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