“They say we fight terror down, but tonight they let the terror in. From a bounty poster to the velvet gate, once a ghost of ISIS, now shaking hands in the house of fame—and the blood still seeps through the White House doors!” sang rapper Osama Attar, echoing the outrage felt across Syria and Iraq that President Trump is meeting with former designated terrorist al-Julani.
President Trump met at the White House with Syrian leader al-Julani (Ahmad al-Sharaa). International media continue to refer to him as Syria’s “president,” though he was never elected. Al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, was an al-Qaeda commander with ties to ISIS who led a coalition of extremist forces to seize control of Syria’s government late last year.
The central topic of the meeting was Syria joining the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS. Both sides announced the reopening of the Syrian embassy in Washington after more than a decade. Trump called al-Sharaa a “tough” leader he “likes” and pledged U.S. support for Syria’s recovery. Discussions also included partial lifting of Caesar Act sanctions, expanding U.S. investment, and integrating the Kurdish-lead Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into the Syrian Army.
For Kurds in Rojava, northern Syria, and in Iraqi Kurdistan, it is unthinkable that a man with such close ties to extremism is now joining a U.S. coalition to fight ISIS. Al-Julani’s record as a jihadist commander is well documented. On May 15, 2013, he was designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the U.S. State Department under Executive Order 13224, blocking all property and interests under U.S. jurisdiction.
In May 2017, the U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice program announced a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture or prosecution. The al-Nusra Front, which al-Julani led, was itself designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in December 2012, months before his individual designation in 2013. On May 31, 2018, the State Department added Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) to its existing FTO designation of al-Nusra Front.
After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria, the $10 million bounty was removed on December 20, 2024. The decision followed a meeting between Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf and al-Julani, by then using his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa, in Damascus after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. HTS was officially dissolved in January 2025, with its fighters absorbed into Syria’s regular military and security forces.
The revocation of al-Julani’s terrorist designation came after President Trump’s May 2025 pledge to deliver sanctions relief to Syria and his White House meeting with Ahmad al-Sharaa. HTS was also removed from the terrorist list and is now the government of Syria, a development that has left many in the Kurdish regions and beyond appalled.
“You don’t fight the terror when you welcome him in. They put a price on his head, a cage in the sand, and now he’s sipping wine with the golden hand. The same black flags that burned the town are folded neatly…but the graves still grow, and the dead increase,” sang Osama Attar, referring to the fact that government-sanctioned extremists continue to kill people in Syria.
Since al-Julani was appointed interim president in January 2025, Syria has seen a surge in attacks targeting civilians, minorities, Kurds, Christians, and SDF soldiers. Some of these atrocities were committed by Turkish-backed factions of the Syrian National Army, others by reactivated ISIS cells, and several remain linked to unidentified extremist groups.
Between March and July 2025, sectarian violence claimed thousands of lives. In early March, security forces and allied militias massacred Alawite civilians in Latakia and Tartus, killing as many as 1,600 people across 55 sites. In late April, Druze communities near Damascus were targeted in a series of ambushes and executions that left over 70 dead. In May, ISIS carried out car bombings and roadside attacks in Mayadin and Sweida, followed in June by a church shooting and suicide bombing in Damascus that killed at least 25 worshippers. By mid-July, renewed violence in Suwayda left more than 160 dead, including Druze civilians, Bedouin tribesmen, and Syrian soldiers.
Between December 2024 and September 2025, an estimated 10,672 people have been killed nationwide—8,180 of them civilians, including hundreds of children and women. ISIS alone has claimed dozens of attacks since May, striking especially at the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast.
And now that man who let that happen is making a deal with the US government. The U.N. Security Council and the U.S. Treasury had recently removed sanctions on al-Sharaa and his The meeting was kept low-profile, with no press photos. The Kurds have been America’s closest ally against ISIS, and it is largely because of U.S. intervention and the continued presence of U.S. troops that Iraqi Kurdistan was able to come into existence. Likewise, it is because of the ongoing U.S. presence in Rojava, in northeastern Syria, that Kurds and Christians there can live in relative peace and safety.
They still face the constant threat of ISIS, clashes with al-Julani’s forces, and the occasional Turkish airstrike, but for now they maintain some semblance of stability. As one Kurdish woman put it, “When we see the Americans drive through, we know we are safe because Turkey wouldn’t dare bomb us.” Now, however, the U.S. is sadly legitimizing al-Julani’s government, and Kurds, Christians, and other minorities sheltering in Rojava worry what this will mean for them—and for the continued existence of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that protect them.
Lana Hussain, a Kurdish female soldier with the SDF’s Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) who has served on the front lines, said, “For sure, ISIS will be happy with this radical government, the Sunni Muslim radical government, because it’s their home, you know. We know Sharaa, or Julani—where did he come from? From Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Qaeda. And this is his people who are ISIS.”
Aram Hanna, a Christian soldier in the SDF, also expressed his fears about al-Julani’s rule. “We see that we can have a good life, as we have it here in Rojava. We built great relations with Kurds, we made sacrifices, and we have many fighters who are martyrs now. We hoped we could share what we have built here with all of Syria, but in my personal view, it’s impossible. It’s impossible because of the ISIS people who are governing the country now in Damascus.”
In their eyes, a former ISIS terrorist is being embraced by the foreign government they admire most, the United States, whose soldiers they fought beside and whose presence they welcomed. As Osama Attar sang, “Oh irony carved in the halls of might—the victims cry while the carpets are laid.”
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