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The extraordinary rise of Ahmed Al-Sharaa takes him from wanted militant to the White House via a US military base basketball court, writes chief international correspondent Bel Trew

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Nothing says you’re off the State Department’s terrorism list like a viral video of you shooting hoops with a gaggle of American military commanders.

That is just the latest bizarre episode in the extraordinary narrative arc of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who went from being an ex-al-Qaeda militant with a $10 million bounty on his head to being dubbed by Donald Trump, the Middle East’s new “young, attractive tough guy”.

After his success on the unnamed basketball court, President al-Sharaa was in Washington DC today to meet his newest and most powerful fan. He also became the first Syrian president to visit the White House since the country gained independence in 1946.

The agenda of today’s closed doors meetings is by no means easy, covering some of the most fraught fault lines in the simmering region.

Sharaa was the former head of the Islamist militant group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham which, although once aligned with al-Qaeda, severed ties in 2017. He stormed to power in December last year, leading rebel forces that toppled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

He has since become the interim president of Syria, a country struggling to rebuild and heal its deep, internationally-exploited sectarian rifts after a 13-year civil war and more than half a century of brutal Assad family rule.