Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, chief of the Islamist insurgent alliance that has captured swathes of Syria in a lightning offensive, is an extremist who has adopted a extra average posture to strive obtain his objectives.
On the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s department of Al-Qaeda, Jolani says the objective of his offensive is to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
“After we speak about targets, the objective of the revolution stays the overthrow of this regime. It’s our proper to make use of all out there means to attain that objective,” Jolani instructed CNN in an interview aired on Friday.
Jolani for years operated from the shadows.
Now, he’s within the limelight, giving interviews to the worldwide media and showing on the bottom in Syria’s second metropolis Aleppo after wresting it from authorities management for the primary time within the nation’s civil conflict.
He has through the years stopped sporting the turban worn by jihadists, typically favouring army fatigues as an alternative.
On Wednesday, he wore a khaki shirt and trousers to go to Aleppo’s citadel, standing on the door of his white automobile as he waved and moved by way of the crowds.
Since breaking ties with Al-Qaeda in 2016, Jolani has sought to painting himself as a extra average chief.
However he’s but to quell suspicions amongst analysts and Western governments that also class HTS as a terrorist organisation.
“He’s a practical radical,” Thomas Pierret, a specialist in political Islam, instructed AFP.
“In 2014, he was on the peak of his radicalism,” Pierret stated, referring to the interval of the conflict when he sought to compete with the jihadist Islamic State group.
“Since then, he has moderated his rhetoric,” he added.
– Effectively-to-do –
Born in 1982, Jolani was raised in Mazzeh, an upscale district of Damascus.
He stems from a well-to-do household and was an excellent scholar.
In the course of the offensive he launched on November 27, he began signing his statements underneath his actual title — Ahmed al-Sharaa.
In 2021, he instructed US broadcaster PBS that his nom de guerre was a reference to his household roots within the Golan Heights, claiming that his grandfather had been pressured to flee after Israel’s annexation of the realm in 1967.
In line with the Center East Eye information web site, it was after the September 11, 2001 assaults that Jolani was first drawn to jihadist pondering.
“It was because of this admiration for the 9/11 attackers that the primary indicators of jihadism started to floor in Jolani’s life, as he started attending secretive sermons and panel discussions in marginalised suburbs of Damascus,” the web site stated.
Following the US-led invasion of Iraq, he left Syria to participate within the battle.
He joined Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and was subsequently detained for 5 years, stopping him from rising by way of the ranks of the jihadist organisation.
In March 2011, when the revolt in opposition to Assad’s rule erupted in Syria, he returned dwelling and based the Al-Nusra Entrance, Syria’s department of Al-Qaeda.
In 2013, he refused to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who would go on to turn out to be the emir of the Islamic State group, and as an alternative pledged his loyalty to Al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri.
– ‘Good factor to do’ –
A realist in his partisans’ eyes, an opportunist to his adversaries, Jolani stated in Might 2015 that he, in contrast to IS, had no intention of launching assaults in opposition to the West.
He additionally proclaimed that ought to Assad be defeated, there could be no revenge assaults in opposition to the Alawite minority that the president’s clan stems from.
He lower ties with Al-Qaeda, claiming to take action to be able to deprive the West of causes to assault his organisation.
In line with Pierret, he has since sought to chart a path in direction of changing into a reputable statesman.
In January 2017, Jolani imposed a merger with HTS on rival Islamist teams in northwest Syria, thereby claiming management of swathes of Idlib province that had fallen out of presidency palms.
In areas underneath its grip, HTS developed a civilian authorities and established a semblance of a state in Idlib province, whereas crushing its insurgent rivals.
All through this course of, HTS confronted accusations from residents and rights teams of brutal abuses in opposition to those that dared dissent, which the UN has classed as conflict crimes.
Conscious maybe of the worry and hatred his group has sparked, Jolani has addressed residents of Aleppo, dwelling to a sizeable Christian minority, in a bid to guarantee them that they might face no hurt underneath his new regime.
He additionally referred to as on his fighters to protect safety within the areas that they had “liberated” from Assad’s rule.
“I believe it is primarily simply good politics,” stated Aron Lund, a fellow of the Century Worldwide suppose tank.
“The much less native and worldwide panic you may have and the extra Jolani looks as if a accountable actor as an alternative of a poisonous jihadi extremist, the simpler his job will turn out to be. Is it completely honest? Absolutely not,” he stated.
“Nevertheless it’s the good factor to say and do proper now.”
