On Thursday, Syria made a surprising move by appointing Anas Hassan Khattab, a former Al-Qaeda commander, as the head of the country’s general intelligence agency. Known by his alias Abu Ahmed Hudood, Khattab has a controversial history. In 2014, the UN listed him as a "terrorist" due to his close ties with Al-Qaeda. He was involved in the Nusra Front, a group that later rebranded itself as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Khattab has been a key figure in the world of extremist groups. In the...