Just a year ago Abu Mohammed al-Julani was considered a terrorist by the USA and an enemy of the Assad dynasty by Russia, who has always been a great supporter of the Assad family.
Last December him and the rebel forces succeded in putting an end to the dynasty and installing a new government in Syria. Abu Mohammed al-Julani became Ahmed al-Shara, the new Syrian ad interim president; and in the timespan of a month, he met with both Valdimir Putin and Donald Trump.
Al-Shaara managed to rewrite diplomatic history with both leaders, and reached significant diplomatic deals, although some issues left unresolved.
From the moment Hafez al-Assad staged a coup against Salah Jadid, and proclaimed himself president in 1970 he made it a point of Syrian foreign relations to deepen its tied with the Soviet Union and within 10 weeks of seizing power, he embarked on the first of many trips to Moscow.
“Over the past decades, our countries have built a special relationship”, Vladimir Putin said during the meeting with al-Shaara. This special relationship has taken many different forms under the rule of the Assad family: protection, continued military supplies towards Syria against Israel, access to Syria’s Tartous port and Khmeimim airbase – Russia’s only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union that guarantee its presence in the Mediterranean – support for Russia’s 2008 war with Georgia and alliance with the Assad government in Syria’s civil war. In this last instance al-Julani and Putin were on the opposing sides of the war, with the former sending weapons and merchenaries to back Bashar al-Assad, Hafez’s son.
Just a month after the regime change, in January 2025, Russia sent a delegation to Damascus, hoping to maintain control over the Tartous naval base and Khmeimim airbase. From his side, the new Syrian administration has requested “concrete measures such as compensation, reconstruction and recovery”, as “restoring relations must address past mistakes, respect the will of the Syrian people and serve their interests”. Reportedly, but not confirmed, Al-Shara also asked in exchange the extradiction of the Assad family, who fled to Moscow after the December coup. All that was concluded was an agreement to continue discussions.
Now, in October 2025, the two presidents had discussions face-to-face. Al-Sharaa said he wanted Syria to re-establish its relations with all countries, but “chiefly with Russia” and affirmed that the new administration would “respect all agreements concluded throughout the great history” of the bilateral relations between the two countries.
Al-Shaara was successful; he was able to get Russian ministers to state that they would be ready to deliver food, aid, medication and energy to Syria. Not only, Russia also offered diplomatic support over Israeli strikes on Syrian territory.
All these promises are crucial to a leader who is trying to consolidate his power by reconstructing a war-torn country and its economy and by securing its borders: “We are trying to restore and redefine in a new way the nature of these relations so there is independence for Syria, sovereign Syria, and also its territorial unity and integrity and its security stability”, in al-Shaara’s words.
Yet, the question of what to do with the Bashar al-Assad still remains unanswered. Almost simultaneously to the meeting with Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explained that Russia had granted asylum to al-Assad because he and his family had “faced the risk of physical elimination”. From its side, the Syrian administration demands his release to make him face trial for the war crimes he commited during the civil war – with Russian active military support.
When Ahmed al-Shara landed in Washington on the 10th of November 2025 he became the first Syrian head of state to visit the White House.
While Russia and Syria go way back, on the moment the US State Department’s list of terror-sponsoring nations was introduced, Syria was added. Sanctions and accusation of holding chemical weapons on the US side, and opposition to Israel-supportive policies and to training of rebel fighters, on the Syrian side, have characterised the past decades of relations between the two countries.
Until december last year, Al-Sharaa, or better, Al-Jolani had a 10 million US dollars bounty on his head, offered by the US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program for information on him.
Nonetheless, the meeting between the two current presidents looked to the future, one in which “Syria is no longer looked at as a security threat. It is now looked at as a geopolitical ally. And it’s a place where the United Staed can have great investment, especially extracting gas”, according to al-Sharaa.
After all, it was Trump who said “People say he’s had a rough past? We’ve all had rough pasts. But he has had a rough past, and I think frankly if he didn’t have a rough past, you wouldn’t have a chance”. “We want to see Syria become a country that’s very successful, and I think this leader can do it”, he added.
In practical terms, these friendly statements resulted in the exemption in sanctions for Syria and in the agreement by the Syrian leader to join a global coalition to defeat the Islamic State for the USA. Moreover, the Syrian embassy in Washington was allowed to reopen after 11 years, to work on counterterrorism, security and economic cooperation.
All forgiven and all forgotten? Not really, or at least, not yet.
In 2019 the US congress passed the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, which imposed the toughest sanctions on Syria. While Trump has pushed for this act to be lifted, resistence is still present in Congress.
In addition, none of the public statements that emerged out of the meeting addressed the countries’ historically opposing stances in regards to Israel.
Ahmad al-Sharaa political image transformed in the past year: he became a statesman, travelling the globe to be legitimised. Meeting with Putin, he secured aid and promoted the re-found but long-standing friendship. With Trump, he focused on trade and terrorism, seeking out for collaboration to expand Syria’s international relations’ potential.
In both cases, he is said to have demonstrated great pragmatism over past rivalries, in an attempt not only to reposition himself but also Syria in the global sphere.
Reading the news reporting on these presidential visits, perhaps the biggest accomplishment of Al-Sharaa’s rebranding is the end of Syria’s global isolation, or at least the perception of it.
