Damascus: As the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) announced on Sunday the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria and the “beginning of a new era” after capturing Damascus, all eyes are now focused on the next moves that will be made by its leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who once worked with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the founder and leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Affiliated to Al-Qaida and known as Nusra Front earlier, HTS led the rebel groups as they began a major offensive in northern Syria on November 27, capturing major cities like Aleppo, Hama before finally storming Damascus.
As several conflicting reports continue to emerge about the whereabouts of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, the world is closely watching the unrest unleashed in the region by HTS which has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States. ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ Abu Mohammad al-Julani, meanwhile, has a $10 million bounty on his head.
Born as Ahmed Hussein Al-Shara, Julani is also known as Mohammad al-Jawlani and Abu Muhammad al-Golani. He worked for Al-Qaida in Iraq and also spent five years in a US prison.
Julani pledged allegiance to Al-Qaida and its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri as Al-Nusrah Front vowed to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime as early as in 2012,
It was Baghdadi who had instructed Julani to establish a front for Al-Qaida in Syria by developing a local presence and fighting. Al-Qaida in Iraq supplied the Nusra Front with manpower, money, weapons and advice.
In May 2013, Julani was named as a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’ by the US State Department
The FBI sought information on the leadership of the Al Nusra Front (ANF) and the US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice programme announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of Julani.
On July 24, 2013, the UN Security Council ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee placed Julani on its list of sanctioned terrorists, making him subject to an international asset freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo.
In July 2016, Julani praised Al-Qaida and Zawahiri in an online video while announcing that the ANF, Al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria, was changing its name to Jabhat Fath Al Sham (Conquest of the Levant Front).
Next year, it was merged with several other hardline opposition groups to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) with al-Julani calling the shots.
According to the local media, the jihadi outfit HTS and Julani have returned to the regional scene after a withdrawal of about five years, during which the organisation went through many internal changes “in terms of relations with other factions in Idlib” and experienced major regional and international transformations, including the Covid-19 phase, the Ukrainian war and the Al-Aqsa flood.
“Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has overcome many obstacles during the past period, after splitting from ISIS and pledging allegiance to the global Al-Qaeda organisation, then disengaging from it, and transforming into Jabhat Fateh al-Sham first, and then into Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, as a local military, administrative and political authority,” Lebanon’s Al-Manar reported on Sunday.
The report mentioned that HTS was able to maintain its strength and control in the region due to the formation of the so-called ‘Salvation Government’ in Idlib, Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war which pushed the world’s attention away from Syria for a long period.
“Since Jabhat al-Nusra severed its ties with al-Qaeda in 2017, Abu Muhammad al-Julani has sought to establish a new approach based on ‘jihadism in methodology and nationalism in geography’, benefiting from the experiences of Iraq and the influence of Syrian reality,” the report added.
Meanwhile, several analysts believe that those celebrating the fall of the decades-old Bashar al-Assad regime are, in a way, backing terrorists from ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
Russia, which has put its military bases in Syria on a “high alert”, said that it is following the “dramatic events” with extreme concern.
“As a result of negotiations between B. Assad and a number of participants in the armed conflict in the SAR, he decided to leave the presidential post and left the country, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully. Russia did not participate in these negotiations. At the same time, we appeal to all parties involved with a strong call to renounce the use of violence and resolve all governance issues by political means,” read a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
(IANS)
