With the aim of overthrowing the regime of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, the rebel alliance in Syria has been securing new territorial gains at a rapid pace every day. It is headed by the leader of the Islamist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.

Years ago, the US offered a reward of ten million US dollars for the former extremist. In recent years, however, the 42-year-old Islamist leader has worked to change his personal image.

Today he presents himself as a moderate leader. Observers see him as a supposed “security guarantor”. Despite previous calls for al-Jolani’s ouster, popular support is now rising again with each new advance against Assad’s government forces.

Authorities in Iraq

In 2003, Syrian al-Jolani, whose real name is Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, joined extremist groups in Iraq to fight against US troops. The Islamic State terrorist group was created there from the origins of the Al Qaeda terrorist network.

With the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011 he also took on more responsibilities. IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sent him back home to lead the so-called Al-Nusra Front – al-Qaeda’s former branch in Syria. In Syria’s civil war, it initially fought against President Bashar al-Assad’s government troops and Kurdish militias, among others. It later fell out with both the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, which also became mutual rivals in 2014.

al-Jolani wanted to escape the supranational ambitions of his former allies and instead focus on fighting in Syria itself. With the rupture, his fighters destroyed every extremist group in northwestern Syria. Since then, the Al Nusra Front has undergone several transformations and has repeatedly adapted its ideology. Today it is known as HTS, the Organization for the Liberation of (Greater) Syria.

Changing image in the civil war

“Man is very interested in ruling,” analyst Orwa Ajjoub told the German News Agency. Ajjoub has been researching the Syrian conflict and jihadism for years. Under al-Jolani’s leadership, HTS has succeeded in creating a kind of alternative government to the Syrian opposition in the country’s civil war-torn and now completely divided northwest. Assad most recently controlled about two-thirds of the country with the help of his allies Russia and Iran. Opposition forces, such as HTS, dominate parts of the northwest and northeast.

Both the US and the European Union still classify al-Jolani’s HTS group as a terrorist organization. HTS is an authoritarian, armed group. In recent years it has been accused of torture, other forms of violence and persecution of minorities.

According to Ajjoub, the international community nevertheless considers it a “guarantor of security”. It is not a danger to the West. Over the years, the HTS leader has managed to establish good relations with the international community. “But not publicly, of course,” says Ajjoub. The Islamic State and al-Qaeda are in the past for him.

This is particularly beneficial for Turkey. One of the main concerns of the neighboring country is to be able to send the numerous Syrian refugees back to their homeland. From Turkey’s perspective, al-Jolani’s relatively stable rule offers security to residents. Al-Jolani’s targeted fight against the cores of IS and al-Qaeda would also be useful in this regard.

According to his own statements, al-Jolani plans to establish a system of governance in Syria that will be based on institutions. Not a system in which a single ruler makes arbitrary decisions, he told the US television network CNN. “We are not talking about the rule of individuals or personal whims,” ​​al-Jolani said.

Moves of an opportunist?

Riad Kahwadschi, founder of the INEGMA military institute in Dubai, sees opportunism above all else in al-Jolani’s transformation. He is now presented as a “nationalist figure” who no longer holds extremist views and calls for unity and coexistence with other minorities. He sees himself as a politician leading a militia.

A recent name change can also contribute to the transformation. He was recently referred to publicly for the first time on the HTS telegram channel by his real name instead of his nom de guerre.

al-Jolani did not always have the full support of the population until the rebel offensive. “He arrested many political activists and his opponents and put them in prison,” said expert Ajjoub. There were repeated protests against him for about a year. “However, when the attack started, he managed to mobilize all these people around him,” Ajjoub said.

Most of the rebel alliance’s fighters had previously been driven out of Homs, Hama and other areas. Now they were fighting for their own land. “From day one, I heard from the people in Idlib that now is not the time to protest, now is the time to fight,” says Ajjoub.

al-Jolani has become a “local hero” and possibly a leading figure beyond Syria’s borders because many people wanted to see the Syrian regime overthrown. The conflict began in 2011 with protests against the Assad government. The security forces used violence against them. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives to date.

Edited by: Kostas Argyros