Not long ago, Western leaders eagerly lined up to shake hands with Bashar al-Assad, the once-celebrated dentist-turned-dictator of Syria. The media fawned over his wife, painting a euphoric picture of the couple, as if their polished image could erase the brutality of the regime.
In those days, Abu Mohammad al-Joulani—now conveniently rebranded as Ahmed al-Sharaa—was condemned by those same European governments as a terrorist, linked to ISIS and Al-Qaeda. His name was synonymous with jihadist extremism.
Yet today, the tide has turned. Assad is in exile, and Joulani is being welcomed into the halls of Europe as if he were a legitimate statesman rather than the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group now terrorizing the Alawites and Christians.
European leaders know exactly who he is and where he comes from—the dark heart of Islamist militancy. But that doesn’t seem to matter anymore.