Syria’s Former al-Qaeda Chief Arrives in New York, Sits Down With Former CIA Director

['.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Vertical-Align Middle .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar Is .Alignleft .Alignright', 'Display Table .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar.Aligncenter Display Table Margin-Inline Auto'] News From Antiwar.com 2025-09-22 00:00:00

On Monday, Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, attended the Concordia Summit, where he sat down with Ret. Sharaa had founded Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate, known as the al-Nusra Front, in 2012. Ahmed al-Sharaa and Gen. David Petraeus attend the 2025 Concordia Annual Summit at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel in New York, NY on September 22, 2025. The former CIA chief continued, “Earlier this year, you met the president of the United States among many other world leaders. After stepping down from the CIA in 2012, Petraeus advocated for backing the al-Nusra Front against ISIS in Syria.