From al-Qaeda terrorist to 1st Syrian to address UNGA in 60 years: Who is Ahmed al-Sharaa?

Ahmed al-Sharaa became the first Syrian Presidentto address the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday (Sep 24) in nearly six decades. His attendance at the 80th session of UNGA comes after Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December 2024, ending the Assad family’s 50-year rule. In New York, Ahmed al-Sharaa met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and renewed his call for Washington to formally lift US sanctions imposed under the 2019 Caesar Act. A few months back, the new Syrian president already made headlines when he met US President Donald Trump and called him a 'young, tough guy.' As Sharaa, a former al Qaeda leader, created history by not only addressing the UN, but also ticking all right boxes by talking to people the West considers important - here's a look back at his past.

From al-Qaeda terrorist to Syrian president who addressed the UN

Back when the United States was still fighting the enemy in Al-Qaeda, the incumbent Syrian president was at the other side. The world then knew him as Abu Mohammad al-Julani. The US had designated him as a terrorist. Born in 1982 in Riyadh to Syrian parents originally from the Golan Heights, Jolani became involved in jihadist movements during the early 2000s and joined al-Qaeda in Iraq amid the chaos of the US invasion. He was captured by American forces in 2006. After spending five years in detention, he returned to Syria in the aftermath of Arab Spring in 2010-2011.

Later, when the civil war broke out in Syria, Jolani founded the al-Nusra Front, and played a major role in the Syrian civil war. However, by 2016, al-Sharaa publicly broke away from al-Qaeda, rebranding his organisation as Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), stating that his focus is on fixing Syria and focus on Syrian agenda. Not only his organisation, Jolani also rebranded himself as

Ahmed al-Sharaa and by 2024, he became the reason for the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Al-Sharaa was touted as someone who could be rewriting Syria's contemporary history with that handshake with the president of United States in Riyadh earlier this year. When this “attractive, tough guy” with "very strong past" addressed the UN, he said, “this is Syria coming back to the international community after years of suffering and isolation” and urged for lifting of sanctions. Weather or not, Al-Sharaa will bring a new future to Syria, time will tell, but this is for sure, a remarkable moment in Syria's history.