Today on Syriana Analysis, Kevork Almassian unpacks one of the most underreported and geopolitically explosive issues of 2025: the intersection of Uyghur militant networks, China’s Belt & Road Initiative, and the rise of Ahmed al-Sharaa (Jolani) as Syria’s new U.S.-backed president.

For years, Washington insisted it was fighting extremism in Syria. But now the Trump administration has normalized and embraced a leader who once headed AQ's Syrian branch and who today integrates Uyghur Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) militants into the new Syrian military structure with U.S. approval.

Meanwhile, China is expanding its role in Damascus, even as Beijing expresses deep concern about battle-hardened Uyghur militants stationed in Idlib and Latakia — fighters who have long threatened Xinjiang and the Belt and Road corridors that pass directly through western China.

In this deep dive, Kevork Almassian exposes:

► How the U.S. historically weaponizes Islamist militants as geopolitical tools
► How Turkey and NATO facilitated the ...