NEW YORK / DAMASCUS — Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known to wanted posters as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, arrived in New York this week for the 81st United Nations General Assembly looking every inch the statesman. Tailored suit. Measured smile. Delegation in tow. He is scheduled to address the world on Syria’s transformation from “exporter of crisis” to historic opportunity for peace, investment, and prosperity.
Back in Syria, the historic opportunity appears to be moving in the opposite direction of the speech.The official program is immaculate: bilateral talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, an Atlantic Council conversation on reconstruction and economic recovery, meetings with the Syrian diaspora, and a carefully staged return to the podium no Syrian president had occupied for nearly six decades until last year.
The unofficial program, according to the pattern of the last twenty months, is simpler. While the president discusses “a single strategy for a Syrian-led recovery,” brothers, former HTS commanders, and opaque committees continue the quieter work of deciding which pieces of the country belong to the public and which now belong to the inner circle.
