Why Donald Trump's handshake with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is turning heads - ‘more a businessman than statesman’

Of all the official engagements Donald Trump had in Saudi Arabia, the US president’s meeting with Syria’s interim President, Ahmad al-Sharaa, on Wednesday was the most significant, one that could potentially reshape the geopolitical landscape in the Middle East and beyond.

Ahead of the meeting, Trump shook hands with Al-Sharaa, becoming the first US president in 25 years to meet a Syrian leader. The meeting marked a historic thaw in US-Syria relations, after Trump's earlier announcement to lift of crippling sanctions imposed during the erstwhile Assad regime.

Trump described Al-Sharaa as a ‘tough guy’ and a ‘fighter with a strong past.’ 

“You have a tremendous opportunity to do something historic,” Trump told Al-Sharaa, urging him to reform Syria and normalise ties with Israel.

Images and videos of the short, yet significant, conversation at the lavish Saudi royal palace showed some initial awkwardness as they spoke through a translator. A beaming Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman, sat next to them while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined them by telephone, BBC reported.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a picture from the meeting on X. “President Trump thanked President Erdogan and the Crown Prince for their friendship, and told President Al-Sharaa that he has a tremendous opportunity to do something historic in his country. President Trump encouraged President Al-Sharaa to do a great job for the Syrian people,” she said.

Controversial Past

Netizens were left baffled soon after the visuals of the ‘unthinkable’ meeting started doing rounds on social media. But why? Precisely because of Al-Sharaa's controversial past.

Until very recently, Al-Sharaa was known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jawlani (spelt al-Golani or al-Joulani at times). About a six months ago, he was known worldwide as a UN-proscribed and US-designated terrorist.  “It's only 6 months difference between those two pictures,” a user on X said sharing two pictures of Jawlani six months apart.

Jawlani's Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria until he severed ties in 2016. The HTS is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, the US and the UK.

“Imagine someone in 2014 - when MBS (Saudi Crown Prince) was the barely known nephew of the Saudi king, Trump was The Apprentice guy, and Al Sharaa was an Al Qaeda leader - telling you this photo would be a thing in 2025,” wrote Thomas Juneau is a professor at the University of Ottawa's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

According to the United Nations Security Council's 'ISIS and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee', in July 2013, Al-Jawlani was declared a global terrorist for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating acts of terror".

‘Trump more a businessman than statesman’

“Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani, is the current President of Syria. Trump met him in Saudi, proving once again he’s more businessman than statesman,” a user wrote on X sharing the old picture of $10 million reward once announced for the capture of Jawlani

Jawlani was also held guilty for ‘supplying, selling or transferring arms’ as well as ‘recruiting for’ Al Qaeda and ISIS, according to the committee and he also coordinated directly with then Al Qaeda chief Aiman al-Zawahiri and later with then ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Charge of Syria since December

Jawlani, however, suddenly gained prominence as Syrian rebel Al- Sharaa in December 2024 when he was credited for the strategic moves that brought an end to the long-drawn Syrian civil war, toppling Assad-led regime in less than two weeks.

On December 8, Al-Sharaa hailed the capture of Syrian capital Damascus from Assad's control as a 'historic' victory. His speech at the landmark Damascus mosque after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled the country ending the fifty-year long regime became a thing in the region and outside

"This victory, my brothers, is historic for the region," Jawlani, who by then had started using his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, said in a speech at the historic Umayyad Mosque.

The Assad government fell more than 13 years after a crackdown on anti-government protests ignited Syria's brutal civil war, which had drawn in foreign powers and claimed more than half a million lives.

Soon western media started referring to Al Sharaa as a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture to achieve his goals. Analysts credited his changed attire to 'his moderation in ideology'. The HTS chief had by then stopped sporting the turban as worn by Islamist preachers and was often seen in military costumes instead.

At the Umayyad Mosque speech on December 8, Al Sharaa was seen wearing a khaki shirt and trousers. During his meeting with President Trump on Wednesday Al Sharaa wore a Western business suit.

"It's a new light at the end of this tunnel," Hind Kabawat, minister of social affairs and labour, in the interim government, told BBC.

Al Sharaa – active since teenage

Born in Saudi Arabia, Jawlani later moved to Damascus, the capital of Syria. His grandfather lived in Golan Heights, a region between Israel and Syria. Golan Heights was part of Syria until the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Since then, Israel has controlled around three-fourths of the region.

Jawlani has been politically active since teenage years. In one interview he he had said recently that he was 17 at the time of the second Intifada — the Palestinian uprising against Israel– in 2000. "At the time I started thinking about how I could fulfill my duties, defending a people who are oppressed by occupiers and invaders,” Jawlani said. 

When the US sent its forces to Iraq in 2003, Jawlani arrived in Baghdad to join the insurgency. In 2013, the US Department of State designated him as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

Major shift in US policy

Before meeting Al- Sharaa, President Trump announced that he would lift all sanctions imposed on Syria, which have been in place since 1979.

Sanctions were imposed on Syria and the Assad regime in 1979 after the country was designated "a State Sponsor of Terrorism" for providing "political and military support to various terrorist groups".

Trump said the sanctions had served an important function and that it was time for Syria to move forward.

"I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness," Trump told an investment forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the first of a three-day visit to the Middle East, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Trump's latest move marks a major shift in US policy. The US declared Syria a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979, which led to an arms embargo and financial restrictions, including on foreign assistance.

The US had also announced a $10 million reward for the capture of Al-Sharaa, and listed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham,the organisation he ran before its dissolution with the fall of al-Assad, as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization”.

The United States, however, removed a $10 million bounty on Al Sharaa's head in December 2024.

Syria is for all Syrians, Al Sharaa said in an address to the nation after meeting President Trump.  “The road ahead of us is long, today marks the beginning of serious work.”

(With agency inputs)