Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) met on Sunday with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is in Washington for a meeting with President Donald Trump. Mast said he confronted al-Sharaa over his terrorist past.

“We had a long and serious conversation about how to build a future for the people of Syria free of war, ISIS, and extremism,” Mast said in a statement.

Mast is an Army veteran who lost both legs while serving as an explosive ordinance disposal technician in Afghanistan in 2010. Al-Sharaa is a former commander in ISIS and Al-Qaida and later in a Syrian splinter group.

“He and I are two former soldiers and two former enemies. I asked him directly ‘Why we are no longer enemies?’” Mast continued. “His response was that he wishes to ‘liberate from the past and have a noble pursuit for his people and his country and to be a great ally to the United States of America.’”

Mast, a Trump ally, concluded, “Today, he will meet with President Trump and officially join the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.”

Notably, Mast’s statement is absent any direct praise for al-Sharaa or his efforts, or any commitment to supporting sanctions relief for the Syrian regime, which Trump has encouraged Congress to enact.

Some Syrian diaspora activists have targeted Mast, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in recent days, describing him as the largest obstacle to the repeal of human rights sanctions on Syria under the Caesar Act.

Meanwhile, Mast is facing criticism from some conservatives for sitting down with al-Sharaa.

Far-right influencer Laura Loomer, who has a long history of anti-Muslim activism and is an ally of Trump as well, said she was “really stunned” by the two meeting.

“Imagine getting your legs blown off by Muslim terrorists and then posing for a photo with an Islamic terrorist,” Loomer said on X. “How many of @RepBrianMast’s fellow brothers and sisters in uniform were killed by Islamic terrorists like Julani?”

Loomer has also criticized the Trump administration for welcoming al-Sharaa to the White House.