Who is Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al Jolani and what are his links to al Qaeda?
Rebel leader Abu Mohammed al Jolani, whose group was central to the lightning offensive that toppled decades of dictatorship in Syria this weekend, has spent years trying to distance himself from his former ties to al Qaeda.
Labelled a terrorist by the US, which still has a $10m (£7.8m) bounty on his head, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) says he has renounced his past as a hardline jihadi extremist and now embraces pluralism and tolerance.
Now poised to play a major role in the future governance of Syria – a diverse country with a variety of religious minorities – al Jolani’s apparent transformation will be put to the test.
Follow live: Assad flees to Moscow amid celebrations in Syria
Early years and pivot to jihad
Al Jolani’s real name is Ahmad al Sharaa – it’s what he was known by before he adopted jihad and it is how he has begun referring to himself again, using it as he spoke in Damascus on Sunday.
Now 42, al Jolani was born in 1982 in Syria to a middle class family displaced from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
His political views were reportedly shaped by the 2000 Palestinian Intifada and the 2001 September 11 attacks.
When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, al Jolani was one of many Syrians who crossed into Iraq to fight US forces, there establishing ties with al Qaeda.
He was detained by the US military in Iraq and spent time in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.
In the early 2000s, the extremist Islamic State of Iraq – led by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi – grew out of the remnants of al Qaeda.
Wanted poster issued by the US State Department for al Jolani
Syria uprising
In 2011, a popular uprising in Syria sparked a brutal crackdown by regime forces – a conflict that deteriorated into more than a decade of civil war.
Al Jolani was directed by al Baghdadi to establish a branch of al Qaeda called the Nusra Front. The new group was labelled a terrorist organisation by the US – a designation that remains in place.
His influence grew and he defied orders from al Baghdadi to dissolve his group and merge it with what had become the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
In his first interview in 2014, he kept his face covered and told a reporter that his goal was to see Syria governed under Islamic law and made clear that there was no room for the country’s Alawite, Shiite, Druze and Christian minorities.
In 2016 he revealed his face to the public for the first time and announced two things: his group was renaming itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham – the Syria Conquest Front – and it was cutting its ties with al Qaeda.
He was able to assert control over fragmented militant groups and consolidated power in Idlib. He again rebranded his group, calling it Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – Organisation for Liberating Syria – as it has been known since.
Al Jolani in 2016 discussing battlefield details with commanders in Aleppo. Pic: AP
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A genuine transformation or an image change?
Few could have predicted what happened next. Secure in his position, al Jolani sought to transform his image. He swapped his military garb for a shirt and trousers.
What’s more, he appeared to renounce some tenets of hardline Islamic law and began calling for religious tolerance and pluralism.
“We don’t want the society to become hypocritical so that they pray when they see us and don’t once we leave,” he said, pointing to the example of Saudi Arabia, where social controls have been relaxed to a degree in recent years.
He gave his first interview to an American journalist in 2021, wearing a blazer and with his short hair gelled back. He argued that his group posed no threat to the West and said sanctions against it were unjust.
“Yes, we have criticised Western policies,” he said. “But to wage a war against the United States or Europe from Syria, that’s not true. We didn’t say we wanted to fight.”
He added that his involvement with al Qaeda had ended, and that even in the past his group was “against carrying out operations outside of Syria”.
Abu Mohammed al Jolani speaks at the Umayyad Mosque. Pic: AP
What happens now?
After decades of ruling Syria, the Assad regime has fallen, in large part because of al Jolani’s fighters.
Following his entering Damascus on Sunday as part of the victorious rebel column, he spoke in the city’s landmark Umayyad Mosque and declared the regime’s defeat as “a victory for the Islamic nation”.
Another senior rebel commander, Anas Salkhadi, said on state TV: “Our message to all the sects of Syria, is that we tell them that Syria is for everyone.”
Dr Burcu Ozcelik, a Middle East expert from the RUSI thinktank, said that al Jolani “sees himself as an inevitable and necessary part of any political settlement”.
“Al Jolani clearly has plans to be a leading actor in Syria, and the moderated, pro-democracy script that he has been drawing upon is testament to his commitment to demonstrate that he can change his stripes.
“The real test will be how committed he is to govern via the democratic playbook, and not just borrow the vocabulary.”
Leaders in capitals around the world are monitoring the events in Syria closely, looking for signs of what sort of government will emerge and what its priorities both domestically and in the volatile region will be.
Whether al Jolani’s claimed rejection of his jihadi past in favour of an apparent policy of pluralism and tolerance is genuine or not will be one of the key questions that observers will be seeking answers to.
The UK government has said it could remove HTS from its list of banned terror organisations and will make a decision “quickly”.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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