On December 8 we reported that Damascus is Now Ruled By ‘Al Qaeda In Suits’ As Assad Emerges In Moscow. A mere months later, these Al Qaeda in suits have already been invited to Paris.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa (aka. Abu Mohammad al-Jolani) arrived in Paris on Wednesday for his first official visit to a European country since declaring himself interim leader, state news agency SANA reported. He was issued formal invitation by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Sharaa, or Jolani, is still at this very moment a designated terrorist according to the United States and several other countries. The FBI dropped its long-running ten million dollar bounty on his head, but the terror designation still stands.

The Syrian leader’s ruling Islamist faction – Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) – has been conducting sectarian attacks on ethno-religious minorities in Syria. Thousands of Alawites, Druze, and Christians have been killed and/or driven from their homes.

All the while, Sharraa has sought to claim before international cameras that he’ll ensure equality for non-Muslims as well as women, but the actions of his HTS gangs are the opposite.

The Syrian leader will seek to press President Macron on sanctions relief and funds for the war-ravaged country’s reconstruction. France, it should be remembered, was part of the US-Gulf coalition behind the decade-long covert push for regime change in Syria targeting Assad.

Macron has meanwhile expressed hope for a “new, free, and stable Syria that respects all components of its people.” This is darkly ironic, given Jolani first came back to Syria from Iraq as a high-ranking ISIS emissary early in the Syria conflict.

🧵1/ Macron is about to welcome Syria’s “new president,” Ahmed al-Sharaa, to Paris.

You might know his name. Not his body count.

Meet al-Jolani, “former” al-Qaeda Emir. While the West cashes in, Syria bleeds — its worst sectarian massacre in a decade. 👇 pic.twitter.com/lq1VslroJb

— Karim Franceschi (@karimfranceschi) May 6, 2025

He started in ISIS, founded Al-Qaeda in Syria (al-Nusra Front), and is now jet-setting off to the Elysee Palace. 

Whatever London or Washington PR firm is advising Damascus, they thought it good for al-Qaeda linked HTS leader Jolani to shoot some hoops this week… for ‘normalcy’ or something:

Syria is upside down, the people are poor & miserable, militias committing massacres, Israel is bombing the hell out of the country.

Julani and his foreign minister: pic.twitter.com/pezOiWSWV3

— Kevork Almassian (@KevorkAlmassian) May 6, 2025

Regional Middle East observer Kevork Almassian summed up the Paris trip, amid ongoing HTS attacks on Druze communities in Syria’s south and Damascus suburbs, and attacks on Alawites along the coast, in saying…

So, Emmanuel Macron has no problem with a self-appointed President who just committed genocide and ethnic cleansing. The land of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.”