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Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa denied any involvement in the 9/11 attacks during a Fox News interview, emphasizing that he was a 19-year-old with no authority at the time.
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Al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda member turned rebel leader, was recently removed from the U.S. terror list before being welcomed to the White House by former President Donald Trump.
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Now positioned as a “moderate” reformer after toppling Bashar al-Assad in 2024, al-Sharaa’s visit marks the first time a Syrian head of state has entered the White House since 1946.
There’s something surreal about watching a sitting Syrian president — who once fought U.S. troops, did time in Abu Ghraib, and ran a militant group — sit in the White House explaining that he had nothing to do with 9/11. And technically, sure, he was a 19-year-old kid back then. But hearing a former al-Qaeda member say “you’re talking to the wrong person” about the biggest terrorist attack in American history is the kind of sentence you only hear in the 2020s, when geopolitics feels like one long fever dream.
What stands out is how fast al-Sharaa has been rebranded by the media as a “moderate,” as if a decade of extremism can be buffed out with a press release and a handshake. It’s a reminder that international politics is messy, transactional, and occasionally baffling — especially when yesterday’s enemy becomes today’s partner the moment it aligns with U.S. interests.
From Western Journal:
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa deflected responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks during a Fox News interview on Monday.
Nearly 3,000 people died across New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, during the 9/11 attacks. When asked directly on “Special Report with Bret Baier” if he regrets the attack, al-Sharaa distanced himself entirely from the event.
“I was only 19 years old, so I was a very young person, and I didn’t have any decision-making power at that time, and I don’t have anything to do with it,” al-Sharaa said. “And al-Qaeda was not present right then in my area. So you’re speaking to the wrong person about this subject.”
The Syrian leader then shifted the conversation.
“We mourn for every civilian that got killed, and we know that people suffer from the war, especially civilians who pay the price, a hefty price for the war,” al-Sharaa said.
President Donald Trump hosted al-Sharaa at the White House on Monday, welcoming the former al-Qaeda member who once fought U.S. forces in Iraq and served time in Abu Ghraib prison. The U.S. government removed al-Sharaa from its terror list just days before his meeting with Trump, according to CBS News.
Al-Sharaa, who led a rebel coalition that toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024 while heading the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has since recast himself as a pro-Western reformer. Legacy media outlets have described his government as “moderate” compared to Assad’s rule.
The visit marks the first time a Syrian head of state has entered the White House since Syria gained independence in 1946, NPR reported. Trump, during a speech in Saudi Arabia, said in May that he would lift U.S. sanctions on Syria.
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