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Trump and the ex-terrorist: why the West needs Syria to work
The Syrian civil war raged for years, wrecked a nation, and then quietly vanished from the headlines. Last December, a jihadist faction once aligned with Al-Qaeda toppled Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship. Their leader, al-Sharaa is now President of Syria and he met Donald Trump this week in the Oval Office, yes, really. Al-Sharaa is calling it a “new era” for Syria, no enemies, just friends. He’s courting everyone: Russia, Israel, Iran, the Gulf, even Turkey. But can a man with blood on his hands truly change? Or is this a master of reinvention pulling off the biggest PR stunt in modern history? So who really is Ahmed al-Sharaa? Joining Roland for Battle Lines we have Jerome Drevon, co-author of “Transformed by the People Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s Road to Power in Syria” and The Telegraph’s very own Adrian Blomfield. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/11/10/ahmed-al-sharaa-syrian-president-donald-trump-white-house/ ► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor https://linktr.ee/BattleLines Contact us with feedback or ideas: battlelines@telegraph.co.uk @venetiarainey @RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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