For many years during the height of the war in Syria, Russian jets pummeled the Al-Qaeda/Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) enclave of Idlib province. Even some US officials admitted it was the biggest single concentration of Al-Qaeda terrorists in the world (yet the CIA had a significant role in helping them oust it from government forces in the first place).

HTS was of course founded and led by ISIS/AQ operative Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, who in the wake of Bashar al-Assad fleeing the country on December 8, 2024 took power in Damascus and rebranded himself 'interim' President Ahmed al-Shara. So it's somewhat unexpected to behold that same Jolani/Sharaa being given the red carpet treatment in Moscow for his first ever visit and meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In essence, the former leader of al-Qaeda in Syria is in Moscow meeting with the very Russian leader who spent 9 years bombing him. Back in 2015, when it was more than clear to honest observers that the US and Gulf allies had backed a proxy war of regime change to try and oust Assad, Damascus invited the Russian military to intervene.

Russia was effective in preventing the al-Qaeda hordes from reaching Damascus and key cities for many years; however, far-reaching Washington sanctions and an American occupation of the country's oil and gas regions took its toll, and the last secular Ba'ath state in the Middle East fell to the Sunni fanatics of HTS.

But Putin, ever the pragmatist, is trying to redefine relations with Damascus, at a moment the fate of Russia's two coastal military bases on the Syrian Mediterranean hang in the balance.

An unlikely meeting: the moment the two leaders greeted...

"During this time, relations between Syria and Russia have always been exclusively friendly," Putin said in the discussions with Sharaa. "We in Russia have never had any relations with Syria that were tied to our political circumstances or special interests. Throughout these decades, we have always been guided by one thing: the interests of the Syrian people."

"This is a great success for you, as it leads to the consolidation of society," Putin said. "Despite Syria currently going through difficult times, it will nevertheless strengthen ties and interaction between all political forces in Syria."

As for Sharaa, he thanked Putin for hosting him and declared, "We are working to restore and define the nature of this relationship in a new way."

Hopefully, Putin at least pressed him privately on the issue of protection of religions and ethnic minorities. Sharaa's HTS forces as well as foreign jihadists have been persecuting Alawites, Christians, Druze, and Kurds.

Russia has always presented itself as the protector of ancient Eastern Christian communities in the Middle East, especially Orthodox Christians of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine - who are all in communion with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Ironically, as Sharaa met with Putin Wednesday, former President Bashar al-Assad is being hosted in exile, under heavy security, in the same city. Some media reports have raised the likelihood that al-Sharaa could raise the question of Bashar al-Assad’s extradition.

This is something officials in the new Syrian government have already been pushing for, but is unlikely to happen, as it would be seen as too big a concession to those Western powers who destabilized Syria in the first place by funneling arms to the jihadist 'opposition' - which included known and designated terrorists.

Many ironies which a few short years ago would have seemed as impossibilities...