Syrian leader appears to flirt with CBS’s Margaret – Business News
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s “60 Minutes” debut Sunday evening is making waves after what regarded to some like a flirtatious exchange with CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan that started with a reference to President Donald Trump’s reward of him as “handsome” and “tough.”
“When you met President Trump back in May, he described you as handsome, tough, and said you had a strong past,” Brennan mentioned during the interview with the Syrian leader which aired on Sunday.
Al-Sharaa cracked a smile as he replied to Brennan: “Have you any doubt about that?”
Brennan, who appeared considerably bowled over, was decided to steer the dialog back to the subject at hand.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan are seen above strolling via rubble in a war-torn space of Syria. CBS/60 Minutes
“I don’t have any doubt about your strong past, but it’s because of that past that you were designated as a terrorist by the American government,” she mentioned.
The CBS interview marked al-Sharaa’s first main look on American tv and drew a flood of online response.
Clips of the Trump-related exchange racked up thousands and thousands of views within hours, with customers joking in regards to the Syrian president’s demeanor and dubbing him “President Rizz.”
In Gen Z slang, “rizz” is short for “charisma.” The time period normally connotes a man’s skill to appeal to ladies.
One commenter on X joked: “Bro thought 60 Minutes was a dating show.”
The CBS reporter pivoted to al-Sharaa’s stint as a leader of Jabhat al-Nusra, a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, during the Syrian civil conflict.
Al-Sharaa’s “60 Minutes” debut Sunday evening is making waves after what regarded to some like a flirtatious exchange with Brennan. CBS/60 Minutes
“There was that $10 million bounty on your head until just a few months ago,” Brennan mentioned during the interview.
“It would have been a waste — it would have been money ill-spent,” al-Sharaa mentioned of the bounty.
“We are talking about 25 years ago. I was 17 or 18 years old. The level of awareness that you have now is different from what it was 20 years ago.”
The CBS interview performed by Brennan marked al-Sharaa’s first main look on American tv and drew a flood of online response. CBS/60 Minutes
The second, which rapidly circulated on social media, got here during a wide-ranging profile of Syria’s new leader — a onetime militant commander who rose to energy earlier this 12 months after Bashar al-Assad’s decades-long rule collapsed.
Assad, who’s now in exile in Russia, was reportedly hospitalized just lately after being poisoned whereas hiding out close to Moscow.
Al-Sharaa, 42, has sought to rebrand himself as a reformer and statesman since his Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham forces seized control of Damascus in late 2024.
The United States formally dropped HTS’s terrorist designation in July after President Trump met with al-Sharaa in Riyadh and lifted sanctions on the new authorities.
Trump hailed the Syrian leader as “young,” “attractive,” and “tough,” saying he had “a real shot at holding it together” in a fractured nation nonetheless recovering from years of civil conflict.
The US president additionally inspired al-Sharaa, who was previously generally known as the militant leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani, to acknowledge Israel below the Abraham Accords.
Brennan, who speaks fluent Arabic, is moderator of “Face The Nation.” Getty Images
On “60 Minutes,” Brennan pressed al-Sharaa about his previous affiliation with extremist teams.
He insisted that his youthful militancy was a “mistake of a generation,” including that his focus now’s “rebuilding a country that has suffered too much.”
US officers have expressed cautious optimism about Syria’s political transition, although many in Washington stay skeptical of al-Sharaa’s pledges of moderation.
The White House has mentioned it views the new Syrian authorities’s outreach as “a promising step toward a stable and peaceful future.”
The Post has sought remark from CBS News and the Syrian authorities.
