In simply three days, opposition fighters captured Syria’s second-largest metropolis, Aleppo, after the gorgeous collapse of presidency forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
Main the offensive was Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who stands on the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a bunch that has change into probably the most highly effective armed opposition drive in Syria.
Maybe in an try and shake his rising status, a photograph circulated on-line on Monday, purporting that al-Golani had been killed in a Russian strike, information that was rapidly debunked because the photograph was discovered to be doctored.
He’s now entrance and centre as his forces look to consolidate management over Aleppo and seize extra territory in Syria.
Right here’s a better have a look at al-Golani:
Current
Because the founding father of HTS, al-Golani has almost a decade sought to dissociate himself from different armed forces and their give attention to transnational operations, switching as an alternative to specializing in creating an “Islamic republic” in Syria.
Since 2016, he has been positioning himself and his group as credible caretakers of a Syria liberated from al-Assad, who brutally repressed a well-liked rebellion throughout the Arab Spring in 2011, resulting in a conflict that has gone on ever since.
HTS ran the governorate of Idlib through the Syrian Salvation Authorities, which it established in 2017 to offer civil companies, training, healthcare, a judiciary and infrastructure in addition to handle funds and assist distribution
Nonetheless, HTS additionally guidelines with a heavy hand and doesn’t tolerate dissent, in line with activists, information reviews and native displays.
Unbiased journalism organisation Syria Direct reviews that HTS is behind the disappearances of activists and has shot reside ammunition at protesters who accuse the group of denying companies to communities that oppose it.
Previous
He was born Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa in 1982 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the place his father labored as a petroleum engineer
The household returned to Syria in 1989, settling close to Damascus.
Little is understood of his time in Damascus earlier than his transfer in 2003 to Iraq, the place he joined al-Qaeda in Iraq as a part of the resistance to america invasion that very same yr.
Arrested by US forces in Iraq in 2006 and held for 5 years, al-Golani was later tasked with establishing al-Qaeda’s department in Syria, al-Nusra Entrance, which grew its affect in opposition-held areas, particularly Idlib.
Al-Golani coordinated in these early years with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, head of al-Qaeda’s “Islamic State in Iraq”, which later turned ISIL (ISIS).
In April 2013, al-Baghdadi all of the sudden introduced that his group was chopping ties with al-Qaeda and would increase into Syria, successfully swallowing al-Nusra Entrance into a brand new group referred to as ISIL.
Al-Golani rejected this alteration, sustaining his allegiance to al-Qaeda.
Throughout his first televised interview in 2014, he instructed Al Jazeera that Syria must be dominated below his group’s interpretation of “Islamic legislation” and the nation’s minorities, akin to Christians and Alawis wouldn’t be accommodated.
Within the following years, al-Golani appeared to distance himself from al-Qaeda’s challenge of creating a “world caliphate” in all Muslim-majority international locations, seeming to focus as an alternative on build up his group inside Syria’s borders.
The break up seemed to be a bid, in line with analysts, to emphasize his group’s nationwide, versus transnational, ambitions to teams in Idlib.
Then in July 2016, Aleppo fell to the regime and the armed teams there began to go to Idlib, which was nonetheless opposition-held. Across the similar time, al-Golani introduced that his group had modified to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.
By early 2017, 1000’s of fighters poured into Idlib fleeing Aleppo and al-Golani introduced the merging of numerous these teams together with his personal to kind HTS.
The acknowledged intention of HTS is to liberate Syria from Assad’s autocratic authorities, “expelling Iranian militias” from the nation and establishing a state in line with their very own interpretation of “Islamic legislation”, in line with the Centre for Strategic and Worldwide Research think-tank in Washington, DC.
Future
As opposition fighters retook Aleppo and moved south, al-Golani seems to have taken a extra accommodating stance in the direction of Syria’s minorities.
Since capturing Aleppo, the group has provided assurances that spiritual and ethnic minorities will likely be protected.
In line with Hassan Hassan, a Syrian professional on armed teams within the Levant, al-Golani desires to model HTS as a reputable governing entity in Syria and a potential companion in world counterterrorism efforts.
In Idlib, he sought to companion with different armed opposition teams, akin to Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zinki, Liwa al-Haq and Jaysh al-Sunna, in line with CSIS, and to keep away from earlier allies, like Hurras al-Din, the brand new al-Qaeda department in Syria.
HTS is at present labelled a “terrorist” organisation by the United Nations, Turkiye, the US and European Union.
Al-Golani has stated this designation is unfair since his group has renounced its previous allegiances in favour of a nationwide one.
No matter al-Golani’s acknowledged home ambitions, as the top of the largest opposition armed group in Syria, his impression on the nation will echo nationally and internationally.
