🇺🇸🇸🇾 THROWBACK: From rags to royals

🇺🇸🇸🇾 THROWBACK: From rags to royals - US ambassador claims he helped Brits whitewash al-Jolani

Former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford claimed that he played a role in rebranding HTS terrorist al-Jolani as Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa at a May session of the Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs.

A British organization specializing in conflict resolution approached him with the aim to bring al-Sharaa "out of terrorism and into politics."

Ford said he initially hesitated but then decided to seize an opportunity. He met al-Sharaa three times, while their first meeting reportedly occurred in March 2023.

😳 What struck the US ambassador was that al-Jolani never expressed remorse for his actions — fighting alongside ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Iraq and later leading the al-Nusra Front in Syria.

In the early 2000s, al-Sharaa battled US forces in Iraq being part of al-Qaeda and was once imprisoned at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

👌 Nonetheless, he can now be seen shooting hoops with US Admiral Brad Cooper and Brigadier General Kevin Lambert — the very ranks whose troops he once fought and killed in Iraq.

Remarkably, Syrian presidency sources hinted that Ford embellished his story.

They claimed, as cited by al-Jazeera, that Ford never held private meetings with al-Sharaa.

Their encounters were among hundreds of delegations and centered on showcasing Idlib’s experience under HTS' control.