Donald Trump humiliated by Syria president over fighting ISIS claims | World | News
The Syrian government is scrambling to quash rumors that it has been ‘cooperating’ with the US to fight ISIS for almost a decade, just days after the new president was welcomed to the White House. Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and President Donald Trump A very heated meeting took place on November 10, which led the new Middle East leader to say that he would help the United States fight Islamist terrorist groups in Syria.
But away from the cameras and back home, the Syrian Arab Republic Media News Directorate issued an urgent statement following reports that Al-Sharaa had been secretly aiding the Americans for almost a decade. New York Times Al-Sharaa, who once fought for the Islamist terror group Al Qaeda, has been secretly collaborating with the US-led Global Coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al Qaeda since 2016, he said on Wednesday.
However, the Syrian government said in a statement today (Friday): “We confirm that some information in the press regarding the cooperation between President Ahmed Al Shara and the US-led coalition against the “ISIS” and “Al Qaeda” organizations since 2016 is false, and we would like to clarify that the information in question goes no further than allegations that have nothing to do with reality.
“The Presidency stated that the President did not coordinate or cooperate with any foreign organization in this context, nor did he issue any instructions regarding this, and confirmed that all decisions and measures taken at that time came with an independent internal decision, without the coordination or request of any external party.”
The statement could be embarrassing for Donald Trump’s administration, after the US president called Al-Sharaa a “young, attractive man” and a “fighter” and said it was “difficult” when asked about the Syrian president’s Islamist past, adding: “Frankly, if you didn’t have a difficult past, you wouldn’t have had a chance.”
However, from the Al-Sharaa government’s statement, it appears that the Syrian administration is keen to emphasize to its supporters within the country that cooperation with the United States is not long-term.
Journalist and Arab affairs expert Edy Cohen told Express.co.uk that President Al-Sharaa, formerly known by his pseudonym Abu Mohammad al-Julani, was able to seize power in December last year thanks to ISIS sympathizers among his supporters.
A previous investigation by the Daily Express revealed photos and videos of fighters from the Al-Sharaas HTS party wearing symbols linked to ISIS as they came to power in December and January last year.
Mr. Cohen said, “He could not do this alone, he did it with ISIS. But now, with the lifted sanctions against Syria and personal sanctions against himself, he has achieved what he wanted and gained legitimacy in the White House.
“But the problem is that ISIS, the real ISIS, does not agree with him and there are reports that they tried to kill him twice. So on the one hand he wants to show the US and Europe that he is fighting ISIS, but in Arabic he wants to show that he supports ISIS and does not cooperate with ‘non-believers’.”
