Because the commander of a insurgent group allied with Al Qaeda throughout Syria’s lengthy civil struggle, the person recognized by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, welcomed international jihadists, dispatched suicide bombers to explode navy posts and vowed to create an Islamic state.
A decade in the past, he informed a journalist that Muslims mustn’t enter Parliament to swear on a man-made structure as a result of they needed to respect “the rule of God Almighty.”
The identical commander turned Syria’s new president after a insurgent alliance he led ousted the strongman Bashar al-Assad in December. He broke with Al Qaeda years in the past and now goes by his actual identify, Ahmed al-Shara. He has swapped his navy fatigues for fits and has launched into a allure offensive to persuade international leaders and his fellow Syrians that he can restore his shattered nation and lead it towards democracy — or one thing prefer it.
“If democracy signifies that the folks determine who will rule them and who represents them within the Parliament, then, sure, Syria goes on this path,” he informed The Economist in an interview revealed this month.
The sharp distinction between Mr. al-Shara’s jihadist previous and his pragmatic, nationalistic current has left Syrians and international officers questioning what he really believes and the way he’ll govern a important nation within the coronary heart of the Center East.
On Tuesday, his interim authorities is holding a nationwide dialogue with lots of of attendees that organizers say seeks to construct consensus across the nation’s political and financial future. However some key teams, just like the U.S.-backed Kurdish militia that controls the nation’s northeast, weren’t invited.
Many Syrians, exhausted after 13 years of civil struggle, say that no matter he does can be higher than the distress and destruction wrought by Mr. al-Assad. Syrian critics who mistrust his Islamist strategy cost that past his conciliatory rhetoric lies a sinister previous that he has not clearly renounced.
Since he emerged as Syria’s new chief, senior Arab and Western officers have visited him in Damascus or hosted him of their capitals to press him on points they care about, together with combating Iranian affect, limiting Russia’s navy presence, shutting down illegal drug exports, cracking down on violent jihadists and guaranteeing the rights of ladies and spiritual minorities.
A few of these officers have mentioned privately that they’re impressed with Mr. al-Shara’s inclusive messaging. However few have promised what he wants most: monetary help to bolster Syria’s economic system and kick-start reconstruction, and the lifting of harsh sanctions imposed to punish Mr. al-Assad. On Monday, the European Union agreed to droop restrictions on Syrian banks and vitality and transport sectors, in addition to to increase measures to facilitate humanitarian help.
One issue hindering international engagement together with his authorities is that america and different nations, together with the United Nations, nonetheless classify the insurgent group he led, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or H.T.S., as a terrorist group. Some nations nonetheless classify him as a terrorist, too.
Barbara A. Leaf, a senior State Division official for the Center East through the Biden administration, was among the many first U.S. officers to satisfy Mr. al-Shara in Damascus, the Syrian capital, in December. She mentioned in an interview that he had clearly come ready to listen to what america needed to say — and to reply.
“I discovered him to be a really methodical thinker with a robust diploma of pragmatism,” Ms. Leaf mentioned.
She mentioned it was unclear how a lot his jihadist background nonetheless formed his views because the chief of a newly liberated nation desperately looking for worldwide recognition and help.
“Both he’s only a nice actor or he has a form of spongelike persona that takes on each expertise and the context that’s shaping the bigger atmosphere and adjusts his personal pondering to it,” she mentioned.
Mr. al-Shara faces large challenges. The struggle killed greater than 500,000 folks, in response to most estimates, compelled hundreds of thousands extra to flee overseas and decimated complete communities, leaving many refugees with no properties to return to.
His authorities is looking for to create a nationwide military to soak up Syria’s many militias, however some are immune to becoming a member of and management vital territory and sources like farmland and oil.
Many Syrians have been widowed, orphaned, maimed or traumatized through the struggle, and struggle screens have reported vengeance killings throughout the nation. To salvage what he can of the state, Mr. al-Shara has known as on civil servants to maintain working, however salaries are meager, the economic system is feeble, and electrical energy is restricted in lots of properties.
Even earlier than he was named president final month throughout a closed-door assembly with allied insurgent leaders, Mr. al-Shara was working at house and overseas to rebrand each Syria and himself.
He has toured Syrian provinces and met with representatives from the Christian, Alawite and Druse minorities. Whereas Islamist in outlook, his authorities has not banned alcohol or imposed costume codes on ladies.
On international journeys, he has catered his message and apparel to his hosts. To satisfy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia, he wore a inexperienced tie; to satisfy President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, he wore a pink one — the colours of their flags.
Many conservative Muslim males maintain their wives out of public view, however Mr. al-Shara’s partner, Latifa al-Droubi, appeared with him for the primary time throughout a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. On a subsequent journey to Turkey, Ms. al-Droubi met with Mr. Erdogan’s wife, Emine.
He has spoken cautiously of Israel, which has occupied territory in southern Syria, calling on it to stick to a decades-old truce alongside the nations’ shared frontier, and of Russia, though its navy backed Mr. al-Assad and closely bombed insurgent communities. He has lashed out at Iran, which additionally backed the previous regime, however has mentioned that Syria will pose no risk to its neighbors.
His contact with the Trump administration seems to have been restricted. However in a latest interview for the podcast “The Rest Is Politics — Leading,” he praised President Trump for his curiosity in “peace constructing” and his “constructive strategy to each the Center East and future U.S. coverage within the area.”
Mr. al-Shara’s critics accuse him of telling whoever he’s assembly what they need to hear whereas eliding his extremist background and a few of his associates’ violent data.
One of many rebels who appointed him president, Ahmad al-Hayes, was a commander accused by america of overseeing the torture and killing of detainees, the trafficking of ladies and kids, and ransom and extortion schemes.
One other supporter, Mohammad al-Jasim, stands accused by america of commanding forces who displaced residents to grab their property and kidnapped folks for ransom, “possible producing tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} a 12 months.”
In 2017, Mr. al-Shara’s insurgent group arrange a “Salvation Authorities” to manage territory it managed in northwestern Syria. After Mr. al-Assad’s fall, Mr. al-Shara introduced that administration to Damascus to function the nation’s interim authorities till March 1, when a brand new authorities is meant to take over. Elections can’t be held for 3 or 4 years, he has mentioned, as a result of Syria is in such disarray.
The present authorities is made up of Mr. al-Shara’s loyalists. Some members have been with him since his jihadist days, and the well being minister is his brother.
Many Syrians have been horrified by movies shared on social media of the justice minister, Shadi al-Waisi, presiding over the road executions in 2015 of two ladies for prostitution and “spreading corruption on earth.”
The media relations workplace of the brand new authorities didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Extremists nonetheless influenced the federal government just a few months earlier than it moved to Damascus.
Final August, lots of of athletes gathered to kick off a neighborhood model of the Paralympic Video games in northwestern Syria, and the organizers lit an enormous torch. Ultraconservative clerics accused the members of worshiping hearth, a sin in Islam, and the native authorities suspended the video games, citing “transgressions” that “violate our tradition, customs and traditions.”
Fuad Sayed Issa, the founding father of Violet, the group that organized the video games, mentioned in an interview that officers within the authorities had apologized for the cancellation however that they have been afraid of what the extremists would do in the event that they went ahead.
Mr. Issa was optimistic now that the federal government was in Damascus and Mr. al-Shara was expressing extra openness.
“We now really feel that issues are going higher,” he mentioned. “The chief has an open mind-set and they’re taking Syria to a greater place.”
Mr. al-Shara’s allegiances modified repeatedly through the struggle. He got here to Syria from Iraq with the help of the Islamic State, however later broke with the group. He pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda earlier than asserting a break with it, too, in 2016.
His unique group, the Nusra Entrance, battled and allied with different rebels through the years and rebranded itself twice, turning into H.T.S. in 2017. Within the years since, Mr. al-Shara has focused on governing the country’s northwest and has cracked down on extremists believed to be plotting assaults exterior Syria.
Orwa Ajjoub, a doctoral candidate at Malmo College in Sweden who research H.T.S., mentioned Mr. al-Shara’s historical past advised he was guided much less by inflexible convictions than by a quest for energy.
“He has modified lots, and he’s real on this change,” Mr. Ajjoub mentioned. “On one hand, there’s a pragmatism that’s encouraging and it provides you some hope. However on the opposite, the lengths to which he’s prepared to go to remain in energy are scary.”
