Abu Mohammed al-Jolani has distanced himself from Al Qaeda and tries to present a moderate and statesmanlike image, but experts are skeptical about his change.
(DW) The offensive by rebel groups that toppled the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was led by Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, head of the Islamist group the Organization for the Liberation of the Levant (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS).
Overthrowing Assad was Jolani’s declared objective, as he reiterated in a recent interview with US broadcaster CNN. “This regime is dead,” he said.
The HTS is the largest of the insurgent militias fighting in Syria’s civil war. Its origins lie in the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, and it is also considered a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Turkey.
The group has had another name. In 2011, when the popular uprisings against Assad began as part of the so-called Arab Spring, it was known as the Al Nusra Front, then Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria.
To achieve his goal of overthrowing Assad, in recent years Jolani has sought to remake the image of the Organization for the Liberation of the Levant, cutting ties with Al Qaeda in 2016, moving away from hardliners and promising to embrace pluralism and religious tolerance.
In an effort to soften his image and appear more moderate, he gradually abandoned the jihadist turban he wore at the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011 in favor of a military uniform.
“The insurgents have abandoned their old jihadist tactics. Jolani has taken off his Islamic cloak and presents himself to the world through his interviews. He speaks more softly and tries to use the vocabulary of a statesman,” observes Egyptian military expert Mohamed Abdel Wahed.
Skepticism about his moderation
With the fall of Assad, Jolani is in the spotlight, giving interviews and statements to the international press. But for years, he acted in the shadows.
Experts and Western governments are not convinced of Jolani’s moderation. For them, HTS remains a terrorist group. French researcher Thomas Pierret, from the CNRS research institute, calls him a “pragmatic radical”.
The United States is also offering a reward of 10 million dollars for information leading to Jolani’s capture.
A realist in the eyes of his supporters and an opportunist in the opinion of his opponents, Jolani has, according to Pierret, tried to chart a path to becoming a reliable statesman.
In January 2017, Jolani imposed a merger of HTS with rival Islamist groups in northwest Syria, thus claiming control of areas of Idlib province that had fallen out of government hands.
In the areas under its control, HTS created a civilian government with the appearance of a state. But at the same time, it did not tolerate opposing positions and repressed rebel rivals.
As a result, HTS faced accusations from residents and human rights groups of brutal abuses against those who dared to disagree, which the UN classified as war crimes. HTS was allegedly behind the disappearance of activists.
Perhaps aware of the fear and hatred his group provokes, Jolani assured the residents of Aleppo, home to a sizable Christian minority, that they would suffer no harm under his new regime.
In Damascus, the HTS leader asked the insurgents not to go near public institutions, which he said remain under the control of the Syrian prime minister until an “official handover” of power.
He also asked his fighters to preserve security in the areas they had occupied.
“I think it’s just good politics in the first place,” said expert Aron Lund, from the Century International think tank. “The less local and international panic there is and the more Jolani looks like a responsible actor rather than a toxic jihadist extremist, the easier his job will be. Is that entirely sincere? Certainly not,” he said. “But it’s the smartest thing to say and do right now.”
Origins and conversion to jihadism
Jolani was born in 1982 in Ryad, Saudi Arabia, into a wealthy family. In 1989, the family returned to Syria and Jolani was raised in Mazzeh, an upscale neighborhood in Damascus.
His father worked in Saudi oil installations and was a secular opponent of the Assad regime. He spent many years in Syrian prisons before going into exile in Saudi Arabia.
During the recent rebel offensive, Jolani dropped his nom de guerre and began signing his statements with his real name, Ahmed Hussein al-Shara.
In 2021, he told American broadcaster PBS that his nom de guerre was a reference to his family’s roots in the Golan Heights, claiming that his grandfather had been forced to flee after Israel’s annexation of the area in 1967.
According to the Middle East Eye news website, it was after the September 11, 2001 attacks that Jolani was drawn to jihadist thinking, having shown admiration for the 9/11 terrorists. It was then that he began attending secret sermons and panel discussions in the marginalized suburbs of Damascus, the website said.
After the US-led invasion of Iraq, he left Syria to join the fight. He joined Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and was subsequently detained for five years, which prevented him from rising through the ranks of the jihadist organization.
In March 2011, when the uprising against Assad’s government broke out in Syria, he returned with the task of founding the Al Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda.
At that time Jolani was cooperating with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, head of the Islamic State in Iraq group, also linked to Al Qaeda and which later became the Islamic State group.
In 2013, when Baghdadi suddenly announced that his group was cutting ties with Al Qaeda, Jolani refused to follow him and instead swore allegiance to Al Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri.
In 2015, Jolani said that, unlike the Islamic State, he had no intention of launching attacks against the West.
In 2016, he cut ties with Al Qaeda, arguing that this took away arguments from the West to attack his organization.
He also proclaimed that, should Assad be defeated, there would be no revenge attacks against the Alawite minority, from which the president’s clan originates.