A New York Post opinion writer urged President Trump to require Syria’s President Ahmad al-Sharaa to publicly renounce his alleged ties to al Qaeda before Mr. Sharaa walks New York’s streets for the United Nations General Assembly.
Mouafac Harb, an American-affairs and Middle East analyst who wrote the column, said the spectacle of a leader with an alleged al Qaeda past attending diplomacy in Manhattan would reopen wounds for 9/11 survivors, families and first responders if the matter is not addressed directly. Harb, who described himself as a longtime U.S.-based Arabic-language journalist and former U.S. government media executive, tied his appeal to the emotional legacy of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The column recounted allegations about Sharaa’s early militant activity, saying he joined al Qaeda in Iraq and later emerged in Syria as a leader in the Nusra Front, an al Qaeda affiliate. It said he attempted to rebrand himself by founding Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in 2016 and that U.S. officials and counterterrorism experts have warned that a change of name does not necessarily erase a legacy of extremism.
Harb noted that Sharaa — described in the column as once wanted by the United States under his nom de guerre — met with President Trump during a trip to Saudi Arabia in May. He wrote that the Trump administration views Sharaa’s presence at the U.N. as an opportunity to stabilize Syria, counter Iranian influence and claim a diplomatic success, but argued that optics matter in New York, where the memory of 9/11 remains pervasive.
The columnist urged a specific set of public statements from Sharaa if he is to be received as a legitimate head of state: an unequivocal denunciation of al Qaeda and its affiliates, an explicit declaration that the Sept. 11 attacks and similar attacks were acts of terrorism, and an unambiguous labeling of Osama bin Laden as a terrorist.
Harb framed the demand as both a moral and political test for President Trump, saying that allowing Sharaa to appear in Manhattan without such a reckoning would send a painful message to families of victims and first responders. "If Sharaa fails to publicly acknowledge 9/11 was an unforgivable act of terror, his presence in New York is not a gesture of hope — it is a stain on the city that bore the heaviest cost," the column stated.
The opinion piece combined personal memory with geopolitical argument, contrasting the administration’s strategic aims in Syria with the symbolic weight of hosting a figure tied in reporting to extremist groups. It cited unnamed U.S. officials and counterterrorism specialists to underscore that organizational rebrands do not necessarily equate to ideological or operational breakaways.
The U.N. General Assembly, which annually brings world leaders to New York, has often presented diplomatic opportunities and controversies that hinge on both protocol and political signaling. Harb’s column framed the Sharaa visit as one of those moments, saying that how the United States handles his presence would be judged not only in Washington but by New Yorkers and victims’ families still affected by the 2001 attacks.
The piece did not provide direct comment from the White House or from Syrian officials. It relied on the author’s view and cited public reporting of past meetings and allegations about Sharaa’s history. As world leaders prepare to convene in New York, the column called on President Trump to make a public demand for clarity from Syria’s leader before allowing him to walk the city’s streets without a clear repudiation of a violent past.