Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the al-Qaeda offshoot terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), presided over the inauguration of the Al-Fayhaa Sports Arena in the nation’s capital, Damascus, on Monday.
The opening event featured a variety of entertainment performances, including dance troupes and gymnastics routines, prior to the inaugural game, a friendly match between the national basketball teams of Syria and Lebanon. The Lebanese national team won the match 110-73.
Syrian national broadcasters aired footage showing the dancers, including some traditional performances and others more modern. At least one show featured the song “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes, which has become a sports event staple in much of the West.
Sharaa followed up his remarks to the audience with several free throws, apparently invited by the teams playing the game to partake.
Social media users shared footage online in English that appeared to show Sharaa enjoying a dance performance to the song “Work It” by Missy Elliott, but the video broadcasts of the event from various networks — including Al Souriya television, which the circulating clip appeared to be cut from — did not confirm that this audio was actually broadcast in the stadium. Al Souriya shared a compilation of highlights from the event that featured the clip of the dancers holding large basketballs but set to different music.
Sharaa used his address to the crowd to promise “much more” progress in the future for the people of Syria, as well as diplomacy with neighbors such as Lebanon.
“This game is one of the sports dearest to our hearts, but we abandoned it because of wars, battles, and our many problems,” he lamented, according to a translation by the Lebanese newspaper L’Orient Today.
“The history of relations between the Syrian and Lebanese peoples has always been marked by a beautiful and harmonious relationship, unfortunately marred by politics. So it is wonderful that our first joint event is this basketball game,” he stated, adding, “There are special rules between Lebanon and Syria: between us, there are neither winners nor losers. So, whichever side wins, we all consider ourselves victorious.”
Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known by the jihadist nom de guerre “Abu Mohammed al-Jolani,” came to power after winning the decade-long Syrian Civil War in 2024, forcing longtime dictator Bashar Assad into exile in Russia. Sharaa’s group, HTS, emerged as an offshoot of al-Qaeda and is a Sunni jihadist terrorist organization, which Sharaa has vowed to dismantle and integrate into the formal Syrian armed forces. Prior to the fall of the Assad regime, the United States maintained a $10 million bounty on Sharaa for his participation in jihadist atrocities.
As an avowed enemy of Assad’s, Sharaa has maintained a distance, and in some cases open hostility, towards Assad’s patrons in Iran and sought to improve his country’s relationship with victims of Iranian and Russian aggression, such as Lebanon and Ukraine.
Following his rise to power, with the support of the government of Saudi Arabia, Sharaa reached out to the White House and ultimately met with President Donald Trump in May. Trump offered Sharaa his support and appeared impressed with the jihadist leader, describing him as a “young, attractive guy, tough guy, strong past, very strong past — fighter. But he’s got a real shot at pulling it together.”
Trump later welcomed Sharaa to the White House in November, where the American president gifted him a bottle of cologne.
Al-Fayhaa Hall had been in use during the Assad regime but recently received a full rehabilitation under the Sharaa government. A top sports official told Syrian television that the revamp cost about $3 million dollars and brings the arena in line with the requirements of FIBA, the global basketball association.
Sharaa has shown keen interest in the sport in the past. In a video uploaded to social media by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in November, a suit-clad Sharaa appeared playing basketball alongside American Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of the Pentagon’s Central Command (CENTCOM), and Brigadier General Kevin Lambert — the leader of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, which Syria recently joined — in Washington as part of his visit to the White House.
Sharaa’s government took over the last American military base in the country last week, the Qasrak air base in Hasakah province. The Syrian Foreign Ministry celebrated the milestone as proof of successful collaboration with Washington and the advances the country has made in security since the fall of Assad.
“The Syrian state is today fully capable of leading counterterrorism efforts from within, in cooperation with the international community,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
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