US Welcomes 'Terrorist' Leader, Finds ISIS Again
Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group once designated by the US as al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, is now apparently amenable enough for White House visits. Remember, this is the same 'terrorist' the US and its allies spent years, and billions, strategizing against. Now, after a meeting, the US-led coalition, which has selectively ignored HTS's existence when convenient, has
a sudden epiphany about defeating IS—just when a new partnership allows them to re-enter Syria politically. It appears the 'threat' level of a designated terrorist organization is astonishingly fluid when there's a geopolitical chessboard to rearrange. One might wonder why, after years of bombing some groups and arming others within Syria, the US suddenly found the 'solution' to IS—not through a
change in strategy, but through a handshake with a former enemy. How many times must the US 'defeat' IS before it learns who its actual enemies are (or, more accurately, before it decides who they are this week)?