A highly suspect self-styled Syrian Druze leader is in DC to meet with lawmakers and Pentagon officials, aiming to convince them that Syria's Druze population supports the gov't of Ahmad Al Sharaa. He is Suleiman Abdulbaqi, seen below with Aaron Yellin of the Israel lobby's WINEP think tank on January 21.
Abdulbaqi is widely loathed in Syria's Sweida, and has leaned heavily on support from Al-Sharaa's forces in Idlib and on Turkey. In fact, he is known to have been jailed by Assad's gov't for allegedly murdering a Christian merchant, and was released in the general amnesty in 2012. His critics in Sweida now accuse him of participating in kidnappings of local Druze opposed to Damascus.
Videos show that Abdulbaqi no longer wears traditional Druze garb back home, but he's put the attire back on to impress credulous Beltway think tankers and policymakers.
Mike