Abu Mohammed al-Jolani has replaced his jihadist camo attire for Western-style outfits as he attempts to transform himself into a moderate revolutionary leader. AP/CNN
CNN | Published December 7, 2024
Ahmed Al Sharaa, an Islamist militant in his late 20s, moved back to Syria from Iraq in 2011 with six men and a monthly stipend of $50,000 from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who would go on to become the world’s most wanted terrorist. His mission was to establish Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, Jabhat Al Nusra.
Sharaa is now commanding thousands of men in an armed rebellion threatening to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He’s better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
Born in the Saudi capital Riyadh to Syrian parents from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and raised in Damascus, Jolani said in an interview with PBS in 2021 that he was galvanized by the Second Palestinian Intifada (uprising) against Israel in the early 2000s and went on to become a jihadist in Iraq after the 2003 US invasion. His deep knowledge of Syria caught the attention of his commanders in Iraq as they were looking to expand their foothold in Syria during the country’s uprising.
Over the years, his influence grew despite his identity being kept under wraps. During television interviews, he never faced the camera directly and always covered his face in public appearances.
His public debut was in a 2016 video when he announced a split from Al Qaeda to create what he said was a Syria-focused anti-regime front with other local factions, called Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (the Front for the Conquest of the Levant), which later changed to Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), or the Organization for the Liberation of the Levant.
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SOURCE: www.edition.cnn.com
RELATED: Syria’s rebel leader Golani: From radical jihadist to ostensible pragmatist
Since breaking ties with al-Qaeda in 2016, the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has sought to portray himself as a more moderate leader; whether that is true remains up for debate
Abu Mohamed al-Golani, head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a jihadist group led by al-Qaeda’s former Syria branch, poses for a selfie during a press conference in the area of Bab al-Hawa crossing northern Syria late on March 12, 2024. (OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
THE TIMES OF ISRAEL | Published December 7, 2024
CAIRO (AFP) — Abu Mohammed al-Golani, leader of the Islamist rebel alliance that has captured swaths of Syria in a lightning offensive, is an extremist who has adopted a more moderate posture to try to achieve his goals.
At the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda, Golani says the goal of his offensive is to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
“When we talk about objectives, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. It is our right to use all available means to achieve that goal,” Golani told CNN in an interview aired on Friday.
Golani for years operated from the shadows. Now, he is in the limelight, giving interviews to the international media and appearing on the ground in Syria’s second-largest city Aleppo after wresting it from government control for the first time in the country’s civil war.
He has over the years stopped sporting the turban worn by jihadists, often favouring military fatigues instead.
On Wednesday, he wore a khaki shirt and trousers to visit Aleppo’s citadel, standing at the door of his white vehicle as he waved and moved through the crowds.
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SOURCE: www.timesofisrael.com
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