Abu Mohammad al-Julani

From Wikispooks
(Redirected from Al-Julani)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Person.png Abu Mohammad al-JulaniRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(“terrorist”)
Al Jolani.jpg
BornAhmed Hussein al-Sharaa
1982
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Syrian rebel leader of militant group HTS

Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, known by his nom de guerre as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, is a Syrian militant leader and commander-in-chief of the militant group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

On 1 December 2024, Al Jolani was reported to have died in a Russian airstrike, hours after his men stormed into Aleppo killing a number of Syrian Army troops fighting for President Bashar al-Assad.[1] A few days later Al Jolani was interviewed on CNN as his HTS rebels took over the city of Hama.[2] Al Jolani is now setting his sights on Homs, the next city south on the highway to the Syrian capital of Damascus.[3]

Background

Ahmed al-Sharaa was born in 1982 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as a petroleum engineer. The family returned to Syria in 1989, settling near Damascus. Little is known of his time in Damascus before his move in 2003 to Iraq, where he joined al-Qaeda in Iraq as part of the resistance to the United States invasion that same year.[4]

Arrested by US forces in Iraq in 2006 and held for five years, al-Julani was later tasked with establishing al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, Al Nusra Front, which grew its influence in opposition-held areas, especially Idlib. Al Jolani coordinated in those early years with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, head of al-Qaeda’s “Islamic State in Iraq”, which later became ISIL (ISIS).

In April 2013, al-Baghdadi suddenly announced that his group was cutting ties with al-Qaeda and would expand into Syria, effectively swallowing Al Nusra Front into a new group called ISIL.[5] During this time, Al Jolani served as the emir of the now-defunct Al-Nusra Front.[6]

$10 million bounty

The US State Department listed Al Jolani as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" in May 2013, and four years later announced a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.[7]

Threatening Russia

The nisba "al-Julani" in his nom de guerre is a reference to Syria's Golan Heights, partially occupied and annexed by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. Al Jolani released an audio statement on 28 September 2014, in which he depicted Russia as being “Eastern Crusaders,” called for reprisal attacks inside Russia, and stated he would fight the "United States and its allies" and urged his fighters not to accept help from the West in their battle against ISIL.[8]


 

Related Document

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:The End of Pluralism in the Middle Eastblog post6 December 2024Craig Murray"It is the United States which is promoting the cause of religious extremism and of the end, all over the Middle East, of a societal pluralism similar to Western norms. That is of course a direct consequence of the United States being allied to both the two religio-supremacist centres of Israel and Saudi Arabia."
Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.


References