British NGO behind 'makeover' of Al-Qaeda leader turned Syrian president
Former US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford publicly stated earlier this month that he was invited by a British NGO to help bring Ahmad al-Sharaa ‘out of terrorism and into politics’
A British NGO with ties to the UK government was behind the rebranding and political training of Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former Al-Qaeda chief known previously as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, according to a report by Independent Arabia and recent comments by a former US diplomat.
Former US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said earlier this month while speaking at the Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs that two years ago, he was invited by a British organization that specializes in “conflict resolution” to take part in a plan aimed at “bringing Sharaa, known as Julani at the time, out of the world of terrorism and into regular politics.”
Ford said he was “hesitant at first” and “imagined myself in an orange jumpsuit with a knife to my neck.”
“But after I spoke with people who had previously met him, I decided to seize the opportunity,” Ford added.
The former US ambassador recounts two conversations with Sharaa that took place in Idlib in 2023. During one of those talks, Sharaa told him that his ideological beliefs and the tactics he employed as a member of Al-Qaeda could no longer apply while governing millions of people, stressing that he had been forced to make “compromises.”
This was during the period that Sharaa’s organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) (formerly Al-Qaeda branch the Nusra Front) was ruling the northern Syrian province of Idlib. Ford said his second visit to Idlib took place in September, around two months before the assault that resulted in the collapse of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government.
According to sources cited by Independent Arabia, the British organization referred to by Ford is a London-based NGO called Inter Mediate. According to its website, it mediates in “complex and dangerous” conflicts and contributes to negotiations with its “small and flexible team.”
It was founded in 2011 by Johnathan Powell, who was previously chief of staff to former UK prime minister Tony Blair.
Powell stepped down from the role last year after being appointed National Security Advisor by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Co-founders of Inter Mediate include British diplomat Martin Griffiths, the former UN Special envoy for Yemen.
A source from the Syrian presidency has denied Ford’s claims about his meetings with Sharaa.
The source said the conversations were not private but rather part of large public gatherings, which were organized at the time to present Idlib’s administrative and institutional experience during the Syrian opposition’s control of the province.
It said Ford was a member of a delegation representing a British research organization, adding that his visit held no diplomatic standing and did not come as part of any special arrangement.
The report comes as many have been dumbfounded by Sharaa’s warm reception in Paris and during a recent Saudi-hosted meeting with US President Donald Trump, particularly given his extremist past.
Sharaa joined Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) following the 2003 US invasion of the country. He ended up serving as the deputy to ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi back when the group was known as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), after it changed its name from AQI.
He was dispatched by Baghdadi in 2011 to enter the war against Assad’s government in Syria, where he took part in the launching of deadly suicide attacks against both security personnel and civilians before founding the Nusra Front in 2012. Following several Qatari-sponsored rebranding campaigns, the Nusra Front eventually became HTS in 2017.
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