Less than two weeks after Ahmad al-Sharaa ousted Bashar al-Assad in Syria, a U.S. State Department delegation arrived in Damascus to meet the onetime Al Qaeda commander. This video drawn from the documentary "Syria After Assad" shows what they thought of Syria’s new leader; why, for delegation head Barbara Leaf, how al-Sharaa talked about Israel was striking; and why one diplomat says he “walked away impressed.”

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For the full story, watch "Syria After Assad" starting July 1, 2025, at 7/6c at pbs.org/frontline and in the PBS App, and at 10/9c on PBS stations (check local listings) and FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel. The documentary will also be available on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel.

"Syria After Assad" is a FRONTLINE production with Rain Media, Inc. The producers are Martin Smith, Brian Funck and Marcela Gaviria. The co-producers are Hoda Osman and Scott Anger. The writer and correspondent is Martin Smith. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

FRONTLINE, U.S. television’s longest running investigative documentary series, explores the issues of our times through powerful storytelling. FRONTLINE has won an Academy Award® as well as every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 110 Emmy Awards and 34 Peabody Awards. Visit pbs.org/frontline and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to learn more. FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.