Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, might be one of the most popular people on the planet right now. Nearly a month after his militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) shocked the world by ending the Assad family’s 53-year reign of power in Syria, the onetime detainee in a U.S military prison in Iraq is now the de facto head of state in Syria. And to the victor go the spoils, including a long list of foreign delegations eager to meet him.
Diplomats are tripping over themselves to score a sit-down with Sharaa, who not too long ago was viewed in Washington and European capitals as the head of an al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist organization. British officials made contact with HTS shortly after Syrian President Bashar Assad fled to Russia. The French sent a delegation to Damascus and are preparing to reopen their embassy in the Syrian capital. The European Union aims to do the same thing. The top U.S. diplomat responsible for the Middle East had a short session with Sharaa last week.
Syria’s neighbors in the region aren’t far behind—the Turkish, Qatari and Jordanian foreign ministers had meetings with the HTS chief in a bid to press their priorities and determine how the new authorities intend to govern a country devastated by more than 13 years of civil war.
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