Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has downplayed his past links to the terrorist group Al-Qaeda and denied any connection to the September 11 attacks, during his first visit to the United States.
Al-Sharaa, who was removed from the US State Department’s “global terrorist” list last week, met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. The Syrian leader previously headed the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a regional offshoot of Al-Qaeda that led a coalition of anti-government forces which seized Damascus in December 2024, ending the decades-long rule of Bashar al-Assad.
Speaking to Fox News shortly after his meeting with Trump, al-Sharaa described his former ties to jihadist groups as “a matter of the past.” When asked whether he regretted Al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks, he denied any involvement.
“I was only 19 years old. I was a very young person. I didn’t have any decision-making power at the time. I don’t have anything to do with it. Al-Qaeda was not present in my area then,” al-Sharaa said.
He added that he was “the wrong person” to be associated with the plane hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001 — attacks that paved the way for US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
“We mourn for every civilian who was killed,” he added.
Although al-Sharaa has pledged to rebuild war-torn Syria as an inclusive state, his administration has faced criticism for failing to curb sporadic sectarian violence targeting Druze, Alawite, and Christian minorities.
In his interview, al-Sharaa also said Syria and the United States should coordinate more closely in fighting the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). He expressed hope that President Trump could help broker a settlement with Israel, which expanded its occupation of southwestern Syria in 2024.
Source: RT
Bd-pratidin English/ Jisan
