A MEMRI article entitled, “Qatar Continues To Finance Terror With U.S. Consent: Will Fund Syria’s New Regime, Led By HTS Terror Organization, Just As It Funded Hamas,” examined the terrorist history of Syrian leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who reverted to his original name Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, to create a false impression that he had changed, even though he remains dedicated to the jihadist cause, ie. to establish the Sharia.

Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) “was established in 2012 by Al-Sharaa (then known as Al-Joulani) at the behest of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who would soon become the founder of ISIS. In 2013 the group became the official branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria after Al-Joulani broke with Al-Baghdadi and swore allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri.”

Al-Sharaa’s followers have slaughtered Christians, Alawites and Druze since toppling Al-Assad.

The MEMRI article also exposes the modus operandi of Qatar, “the world’s greatest financer of extremist Islamist elements such as the Muslims Brotherhood and jihadi terror organizations.”

Now comes a new development. “Trump to remove US sanctions on Syria in major policy shift,” by Gram Slattery, Pesha Magid, Nafisa Eltahir and Timour Azhari, Reuters, May 14, 2025:

RIYADH/DAMASCUS, May 13 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would order the lifting of sanctions on Syria at the behest of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, a major U.S. policy shift ahead of an expected meeting with Syria’s Islamist President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Trump is set to say hello to Sharaa on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, a White House official said, setting up an encounter between the president and the former al Qaeda commander who took power after Bashar al-Assad was toppled. Two Syrian presidential sources told Reuters they would meet on Wednesday morning.

“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump told an investment forum in Riyadh, at the start of a tour of Gulf Arab states. “It’s their time to shine. We’re taking them all off,” Trump said, “Good luck Syria, show us something very special.”

Trump said he made the decision after discussions with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, whose governments have both strongly urged the lifting of sanctions.

Removing U.S. sanctions that cut Syria off from the global financial system will clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organizations working in Syria, easing foreign investment and trade as the country rebuilds……

Recall a familiar story that backfired when America supported and supplied Afghanistan’s mujahideen with weapons, training, and financial resources from 1979 to 1992, to fight the Soviet invasion. The enemy of my enemy is not always a friend.

The fall of the al-Assad Syrian regime was bad news for its staunch ally, Iran, which was good news to America and Israel. But like the mujahideen of Afghanistan, Al-Sharaa is no friend to America and Israel, and neither is Qatar. In December, Qatar “rushed to position itself as a pivotal player in shaping Syria’s future” after the fall of al-Assad. Qatar was hand in hand with “its closest regional partner,” Turkey, which was responsible for facilitating and backing al-Sharaa before and after al-Assad’s fall.

Now al-Sharaa is making significant inroads, as his leadership is legitimized by Muslim Brotherhood-supporting Qatar (and Turkey), with new US support to boot.

Qatar has “considerable political influence over al-Sharaa’s administration,” given that four key Syrian  government ministers have close ties to Qatar. Also:

Qatar’s provision of funds to the new Syrian regime to pay public sector salaries is part of a familiar Qatari strategy: a strategy that involves supporting and funding terrorist elements hostile to the West in order to promote the country’s role as a provider of international aid and as a mediator with these elements. Another prominent example of this was Qatar’s funding of the regime of the Hamas terrorist organization with billions of dollars.

So what is the end game for America?

One thing for certain is that Trump inherited Joe Biden’s complete betrayal of American interests, both domestically and abroad. Biden left open borders, poured billions into the coffers of Iran, left billions of dollars worth of state-of-the-art military equipment in Afghanistan for free use by the Taliban, and virtually factored America out of the equation of any global influence. Biden left Trump to contend with a nuclear threshold Iran and a turbulent Middle East that saw America under the declining Biden as nothing more than a joke.

It’s also no secret that Qatar has been buying out American campuses, where pro-Hamas, intimidating protests proliferated, with little to no intervention by the campus administration.

The picture looks grim. But one needs to remember that Trump, not Biden, cracked down on campus antisemitism, which was disguised as “free speech” when it was really a promotion of jihad terror against Israel and Jews.

With many contradictions now presenting itself with Trump, how America intends to re-establish an American influence back in the Middle East and globally is a complicated task to say the least. It will not be an easy or straightforward one. In the meantime, Iran is the greatest imminent danger as the answers to many questions play out with time.

Five months ago, Iran International reported:

Amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran, Qatar has aligned itself closer to Tehran. This was evident during Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Doha in October 2024. The two countries discussed enhancing cooperation in economy, energy, culture, and education, with a particular focus on resolving the $6 billion in Iranian assets frozen in Qatar. The visit underscored Qatar’s role as a diplomatic mediator, as Pezeshkian met with regional leaders, including Hamas representatives, to address crises in Gaza and Lebanon.

To complicate matters even more, al-Sharaa made a strategic business pitch to Trump on Monday: “A Trump Tower in Damascus,” to “charm” him for sanctions relief, which apparently worked. And that followed a 400-million-dollar jet from Qatar to Trump, which raised eyebrows on both sides of the political spectrum.

So what’s really going on with Trump? It may be fair to present the question: who is really manipulating whom? Other questions: what might be the intended possible outcomes? For instance: could Trump be hoping for a new level of the Abraham Accords to be established as he pursues and accepts friendship from Arab countries? Could he be hoping for greater divisions between Arab countries and Iran as a result of America drawing closer to Arab countries? Whatever the reasons, Trump cares little about optics, but let’s hope he has contemplated the potential price of these new partnerships. He doesn’t seem to have mentioned “humanitarian aid” to Syria, which would involve stuffing the coffers of a jihadist regime that is seeking to expand Sharia dominance in the region.

In another development; this one aimed at “strengthening strategic partnerships for economic prosperity”:

Saudi Arabia, President Donald J. Trump announced Saudi Arabia’s $600-billion commitment to invest in the United States, building economic ties that will endure for generations to come.

Trump also “targeted Iran in his first major speech in Saudi Arabia, warning Tehran that it must choose between never having a nuclear weapon or dealing with his wrath.” Trump warned: “If Iran’s leadership rejects the olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure.”

Of course, the cautionary tale of the mujahideen in Afghanistan should be remembered. However, considering Trump’s past policies of protecting American borders from the worst criminals and jihadists, as well as his reinstatement of the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries of concern, it makes little sense to assume without further evidence that he would betray America to the jihadist cause. Let’s hope there is a method (and long-term results) to the madness — as appears to be the case even at this point. In the meantime, expect the inevitable media circus as America continues to emerge from disastrous, nightmarish Democrat rule.