The West’s Betrayal: From Fighting Terror To Embracing It

The United States has just given official approval for Syria’s new Islamist extremist jihadi regime, led by former Al-Qaeda and ISIS commanders, to integrate thousands of foreign jihadist fighters into the national army. Fighters who joined the jihad from China, Central Asia, Europe, and beyond—many of whom have already committed massacres, atrocities, and religious and sectarian cleansing on Syrian soil.

This isn’t counterterrorism. This is state-sponsored radicalisation with a U.S. stamp of approval.

Let the world remember who Abu Mohammad al-Jolani is:

⁠He was a member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi; he then joined ISIS and was dispatched by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to Syria to establish Jabhat al-Nusra, ISIS’s official Syrian branch; he later broke from Baghdadi to pledge allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s deputy and successor, becoming Al-Qaeda’s official branch in Syria.

This is the man who now claims the title of ‘President’ of Syria; a self-appointed Islamist extremist jihadi terrorist who leads a regime born of terrorism, betrayal, and ideological fanaticism.

And let there be no confusion: Al-Jolani has been distributing Syrian citizenships, IDs, and passports to foreign jihadists from day one, with documents printed in Turkey under the sponsorship of Erdoğan. This is not a new policy. The only thing new is that now, for the first time, the United States has given its official blessing, turning this extremist regime and its jihadi army into a legitimate political entity in the eyes of the international community.

Would the United States allow thousands of foreign fighters who served under Al-Qaeda or ISIS to be granted citizenship and integrated into its armed forces?

Would any Western or non-Western government place its national security in the hands of men who once led suicide squads, enforced religious apartheid, and declared entire populations infidels and apostates?

These jihadists have committed executions, torture, crucifixions, rape, stonings, and the sexual enslavement of women and girls. They practiced the barbaric doctrine of Jihad al-Nikah, which is a systematic program of rape under the pretext of religion. These are not cultural differences. These are unforgivable crimes, and no ideology or political justification can excuse them.

Under Jolani’s command, they carried out sweeping campaigns of ethnic and sectarian cleansing, executing Alawite, Druze, Shia, Christian, and Kurdish civilians; beheading Lebanese soldiers; kidnapping Christian nuns in Maaloula; and destroying places of worship. They openly call for the establishment of a transnational Islamic caliphate stretching from Africa through the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and into Asia and Europe.

In exchange for foreign investments, energy partnerships, and political deals, they have knowingly allowed states that back Islamist groups, such as Qatar and Turkey, to fund and spread this extremist ideology, not only in Syria but across Western societies. This is not merely tolerated, it has been facilitated. These regimes have invested billions into building ideological networks in Europe and North America: mosques, schools, media outlets, lobbying fronts, and religious institutions that promote their radical agenda. And they do so with impunity, because it serves their strategic ambitions.

This is not a byproduct of globalization, it is a calculated project.

And the West has looked the other way while extremism was imported, institutionalised, and normalised, on their own soil and far beyond.

But as I have said time and again: Islam is not the enemy.

It is Islamist extremism, which is a perverted and twisted political ideology, that is the true threat. An ideology that views all who disagree with it as apostates and infidels to be killed. One that seeks to dominate society by force, silencing dissent, destroying pluralism, and replacing a modern, secular, and independent judiciary with Sharia law: a system of religious despotism governed by extremist clerics, fatwas, and brute force.

Let us also not forget: President Donald Trump, during his first term, spoke forcefully and consistently against Islamist extremism and the regimes that sponsor it. He took decisive action against all terrorist groups, regardless of brand, such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, HTS, and others.

So what has changed now? Why is the United States now endorsing and legitimising the very project it once condemned? Why is Syria, a diverse and sovereign nation, being forced to accept what no other nation on Earth would ever tolerate?

The West must wake up, before it is too late.

The United States must reverse this disastrous decision immediately, before the Mediterranean becomes the frontline of a new terrorist caliphate.

And the international community must stand firmly with the Syrian people, not with terrorists masquerading as statesmen.