As a Syrian rebel coalition seized control of Aleppo, captured all of Idlib and continues to expand in an offensive that began just a few days ago, many might be wondering who the fighters involved in this unprecedented feat are.
The rebel coalition contains many different and ideologically disparate forces, there is no doubt that the group at the heart of the unprecedented rebel gains against Assad is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
When the alliance, dubbed the “Operation Deterrence of Aggression”, released photographs on their official communications channel, they chose to show a bearded man in military clothing directing the assault.
The man is Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the enigmatic commander of HTS, who has for over a decade been involved in fighting against the Assad regime.
But who exactly is this elusive former al-Qaeda militant who simultaneously has a $10 million bounty on his head by the US and is also considered an apostate worthy of death by the Islamic State (IS) group?
Beginnings in al-Qaeda
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani was born as Ahmed Hussein al-Shara in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at some point in the 1970s. His parents are native to Syria’s Golan Heights, from which they were forced to flee by the Israeli invasion and occupation of the Syrian territory in 1967.
In 1989, Jolani’s family moved back to Syria. In 2003, he moved to Iraq to join al-Qaeda to fight American forces in Iraq.
After allegedly spending time in US military prisons, he returned to Syria in 2011 at the onset of the Syrian Civil War to play a leading role in Jabhat an-Nusra, which at that point was the Syrian wing of al-Qaeda, and which often fought both Assad and the moderate Free Syrian Army.
Rejecting global jihad
After a convoluted series of splits and fractures within the Salafi-jihadist movement in Syria, Jolani came to reject both al-Qaeda and the ISÂ group.
While IS often focused more on fighting weakened non-Islamist Syrian rebels, Jolani went in the opposite direction, choosing to work with secular nationalist rebels against the common enemy of the Assad regime and its Iranian and Russian allies.
IS group’s main aim was to build its global caliphate, while Jolani rejected this and saw the main objective was fighting against Assad. After this, according to some within the Salafi-jihadist movement, Jolani was declared as an apostate by IS, a charge that carries a death sentence.
At this point, Jabhat an-Nusra was involved in numerous battles against IS, often fighting alongside moderate Syrian rebels.
Seeking to ditch his image as an “extremist” with links to al-Qaeda, Jolani sought to ditch the tainted Jabhat an-Nusra group and began to become more ideologically flexible in building new alliances.
In 2017, he, along with others, consolidated numerous factions within the Syrian Islamist movement to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (“Assembly for the Liberation of Syria”), a group that completely renounced al-Qaeda and its global jihadist mission.
HTS then set about crushing IS and pro-al-Qaeda factions in the last remaining rebel-held province of Idlib, as well as other parts of northwest Syria.
Building in Idlib
With HTS crushing its Salafi-jihadist opponents, it came to rule large parts of territory in Idlib, known as the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG).
It shares the territory with the Turkish-backed Syrian Interim Government (SIG), which is affiliated to the Syrian National Army (SNA), which has often wrestled for power with HTS over parts of Idlib and over tactical questions regarding confronting the Assad regime and its allies.
Although Jolani has renounced al-Qaeda, the rule of HTS in Idlib has been far from ideal, with Idlib and surrounding areas have seen protests against HTS’s practices – from torture in prisons to the monopolisation of the region’s economic and security administration.
However, while far from perfect in its approach to unrest, Jolani listened to the protesters and reformed its internal policing forces, announced new elections to its General Shura Council and vowed to create local councils and unions.
Jolani has stated that governance should be Islamic, “but not according to the standards of Islamic State or even Saudi Arabia”.
The group has not prohibited smoking nor required women to cover their faces. By January 2022, the morality police had also ceased patrolling the streets, according to a report by The Washington Post.
In his first ever interview, Jolani said the group’s continued designation as a “terrorist group” was “unfair”.
“First and foremost, [Idlib] does not represent a threat to the security of Europe and America,” Jolani told PBS’s Martin Smith in the interview, which was filmed as part of a Frontline documentary on his involvement in Syria’s war.
“This region is not a staging ground for executing foreign jihad.”
A leader of Syria’s rebellion?
With the Turkish-backed SNA focused more on fighting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), it is not a surprise that Jolani has become the figurehead of the Syrian rebellion.
With HTS leading the largest assault on Assad regime forces in almost a decade, he and the group and undoubtably the spearhead of the rebellion. In fact, it i known that some factions of the secular nationalist SNA have joined Jolani’s coalition, though it is not known if Turkey agreed to this.
However, many worry that with the group seizing control beyond Idlib, Jolani could act against Syria’s religious minorities, as is often the case with hard-line Islamists.
However, the HTS leader has sought to dispel these worries.
During the offensive in northwest Syria, Jolani has vowed to protect all Syrians regardless of sectarian affiliation. He has even offered amnesty for soldiers affiliated to Assad if they defect or surrender.
In guidelines issued to fighters by Jolani, shared on social media, the militant tells soldiers that “Aleppo is a meeting place of civilization with cultural/religious diversity for all Syrians.”
“Calm fears of people from all sects,” the rebel leader writes.
