Ahmed al-Sharaa
أبو محمد الجولاني
File:Muhammad al-Jawlani (cropped).png
2nd Emir of Tahrir al-Sham
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2017
Preceded by	Abu Jaber Shaykh
Emir of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham
In office 28 July 2016 – 28 January 2017
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Emir of the Al-Nusra Front
In office 23 January 2012 – 28 July 2016
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Personal details
Born	1982 (age 43–44)[1] Riyadh, Saudi Arabia[1][2]
Nickname	'The Conqueror Sheikh'[3]
Military career
Allegiance	Current: Syrian Salvation Government (2017–present) Tahrir al-Sham (2017–present) Former: Al-Qaeda (2003–2016)[4] Al-Qaeda in Iraq (2004–2006) Mujahideen Shura Council (January 2006 – October 2006) Islamic State of Iraq (October 2006 - 23 January 2012) Al-Nusra Front (2012–2016) Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (2016–2017)
Service years	2003–present
Rank	Commander-in-chief (Tahrir al-Sham)
Conflicts	Iraq War Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011) Iraqi insurgency (2003–2006) Syrian Civil War Inter-rebel conflict 2016 Idlib clashes 2017 Idlib clashes 2020 Idlib clashes 2021 Idlib clashes 2022 Aleppo clashes 2014 Idlib offensive 2015 Idlib offensive 2017 Hama offensive Northwestern Syria campaign (October 2017–February 2018) Idlib demilitarization (2018–2019) 2018 Aleppo clashes Dawn of Idlib Dawn of Idlib 2 Northwestern Syria offensive (2024) Battle of Aleppo (2024) 2024 Hama offensive 2024 Homs offensive

Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a^[a] (born 1982) known by his nom de guerre as Abu Mohammad al-Julani,^[b] is a Syrian militant serving as the commander-in-chief of the militant group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham since 2017.^[8]

Before cutting ties with Al-Qaeda in 2016,^[9] Julani had served as the emir of the now-defunct al-Nusra Front, the former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda.^[10] The US State Department listed Al-Julani as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" in May 2013,^[11] and four years later announced a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.^[12][13][14]

The nisba "Al-Julani" in his nom de guerre is a reference to Syria's Golan Heights, mostly occupied and annexed by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967.^[15] Al-Julani released an audio statement on 28 September 2014, in which he 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 the Islamic State.^[16] In more recent years, he has presented a more moderate view of himself, suggesting he has no urge to wage war against Western nations, and has vowed to protect minorities.^[17]

Ahmed Hussein's family came from the Golan Heights in Syria. The family was displaced in 1967 after the Israeli occupation of the Golan territories during the Six-Day War. Julani's father, Hussein al-Shar'a, was an Arab nationalist student activist for the Nasserists in Syria. He was imprisoned by Syrian neo-Ba'athists during the anti-Nasserist purges initiated after the 1961 and 1963 coups d'état, which broke up the United Arab Republic and propelled Arab Socialist Ba'ath party to power.^[18]

Julani's father later escaped prison to complete his higher studies in Iraq in 1971. During this period, travelled to Jordan to co-operate with the Palestinian Fedayeen of the Palestine Liberation Organization. After returning to Syria in the 1970s, now ruled as the personalist dictatorship of Hafez al-Assad, Julani's father was again imprisoned. He was later released and found asylum in Saudi Arabia.^[19]

Hussein al-Shar'a, from a peasant background and a graduate of economics from the university of Baghdad, worked in the Saudi oil industry and published numerous books in Arabic on how natural resources such as oil could contribute to development in the Arab world as well accelerate the region's economic integration, and in which ways the economic surplus could be invested in key sectors such as education, agriculture and especially the military.^[20]

Al-Julani was born in 1982 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as an oil engineer until 1989. In that year the al-Julani family returned to Syria, and he grew up and lived in the eastern villas area in the Mezzeh neighborhood of Damascus, until moving to Iraq in 2003.^[1]

During his youth in Syria, al-Julani grew up in a urban middle-class family, his mother being a schoolteacher and his father a consultant on the oil industry for Prime Minister Mahmoud Al-Zoubi, al-Julani having been described as "manipulatively intelligent" but "socially introverted", also noted for his "good looks" and his romance with an Alawite girl that would be rejected by both families.^[20]

According to an interview with Frontline in 2021, al-Julani stated he was radicalized by the Palestinian Second Intifada in 2000 when he was 17 or 18 years old. "I started thinking about how I could fulfil my duties, defending a people who are oppressed by occupiers and invaders," he said.^[21][22]

Appreciative of the 9/11 attacks,^[20] al-Julani traveled from Damascus to Baghdad by bus just weeks before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, where he quickly rose through the ranks of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).^[21] The Times of Israel newspaper claimed that al-Julani was a close associate of AQI leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.^[6]

However, in his 2021 interview with Frontline, al-Julani denied ever meeting al-Zarqawi and claimed he served only as a regular foot-soldier under al-Qaeda in Iraq against American occupation. Before the eruption of the Iraqi civil war in 2006, al-Julani was arrested by American forces and imprisoned for over five years in various facilities, including Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca, Camp Cropper and al-Tajji prison.^[23]

Upon his release from prison coinciding with the Syrian revolution in 2011, al-Julani crossed into Syria with significant funding and a mandate to expand al-Qaeda's presence. Despite tensions with al-Qaeda's leadership in Iraq, who were content with his departure, al-Julani proceeded to orchestrate an agreement with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to establish al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, Jabhat al-Nusra. The group maintained an alliance with the Islamic State of Iraq until 2013, with an arrangement between al-Julani and al-Baghdadi to resolve disputes through mediation by al-Qaeda Emir Ayman al-Zawahiri. Over time, al-Julani began distancing himself from transnational jihadist ideology, increasingly framing his faction within the context of a nationalist Syrian struggle.^[21]

The Islamic State of Iraq initially provided al-Julani with fighters, weapons, and funding to establish the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. Al-Julani implemented these plans alongside Islamic State of Iraq insurgent leaders after his release from prison.^[24]

Al-Julani became the "general emir" of al-Nusra when it was officially announced in January 2012. By December of that year, the US Department of State designated Jabhat al-Nusra as a terrorist organization, identifying it as an alias for Al-Qaeda in Iraq (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq).^[25] Under al-Julani's leadership, Al-Nusra emerged as one of Syria's most powerful groups.^[6]

Al-Julani came to prominence in April 2013 when he rejected al-Baghdadi's attempt to merge Al-Nusra into ISI under the new name Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The proposed merger would have eliminated Al-Nusra's autonomy by placing all its leaders, decisions, and operations under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's direct control. To preserve Al-Nusra's independence, al-Julani pledged allegiance directly to al-Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who supported al-Julani's bid for independence.

While Al-Nusra had previously been connected to al-Qaeda through its allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq, this new pledge bypassed ISI entirely, making Al-Nusra the official Syrian branch of al-Qaeda.^[26][27] Despite his own oath of allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Baghdadi rejected this ruling and proceeded with the merger, leading to armed clashes between al-Nusra Front and ISIL over Syrian territory.^[28][6]

In late May 2015, during the Syrian civil war, al-Julani was interviewed by Ahmed Mansour on Qatari news broadcaster Al Jazeera, hiding his face. He described the Geneva peace conference as a farce and claimed that the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition did not represent the Syrian people and had no ground presence in Syria. Al-Julani mentioned that al-Nusra have no plans for attacking Western targets, and that their priority is focused on fighting the al-Assad Syrian government, Hezbollah, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Al-Julani is credited with saying that the "Nusra Front doesn't have any plans or directives to target the West. We received clear orders from Ayman al-Zawahiri not to use Syria as a launching pad to attack the U.S. or Europe in order to not sabotage the true mission against the regime. Maybe Al-Qaeda does that but not here in Syria. Assad forces are fighting us on one end, Hezbollah on another and ISIL on a third front. It is all about their mutual interests".^[29]

When asked about al-Nusra's plans for a post-war Syria, al-Julani stated that after the war ended, all factions in the country would be consulted before anyone considered "establishing an Islamic state". He also mentioned that al-Nusra would not target the country's Alawite minority, despite their support for the Assad regime. "Our war is not a matter of revenge against the Alawites despite the fact that in Islam, they are considered to be heretics".^[29] A commentary on this interview however states that al-Julani also added that Alawites would be left alone as long as they abandon elements of their faith which contradict Islam.^[30]

In October 2015, al-Julani called for indiscriminate attacks on Alawite villages in Syria. He said, "There is no choice but to escalate the battle and to target Alawite towns and villages in Latakia".^[31] al-Julani also called for Russian civilians to be attacked by former Soviet Muslims.^[32][33]

On 28 July 2016, al-Julani announced in a recorded message that Jabhat al-Nusra would be renamed Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (Front for the Conquest of Syria).^[34] In his announcement, al-Julani declared that the rebranded group had "no affiliation to any external entity." While some analysts interpreted this as a break from Al-Qaeda, al-Julani did not explicitly mention the organization or renounce his oath of allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri.^[35]

On 28 January 2017, al-Julani announced the dissolution of Jabhat al-Fath al-Sham and its merger into a larger Syrian Islamist organization, Hayat Tahrir Al Sham ("Assembly for the Liberation of the Levant" or HTS). Under HTS, the group prioritized combating Al-Qaeda and ISIS in an effort to improve its standing with Western nations. HTS successfully defeated ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and most opposing forces in its territory, establishing control over most of Idlib Governorate, which it administers through the HTS-aligned Syrian Salvation Government.^[36]

In mid-2020, al-Julani increased his public presence in Idlib to build popular support. HTS-affiliated media significantly expanded its output during this period, releasing multiple daily videos showcasing governance activities, tax distribution in rural areas, frontline operations, and al-Julani's meetings with local militia groups.^{[citation needed]}

On 1 December 2024, The Week magazine reported unconfirmed claims circulating in Arab media outlets and social media that Al-Julani had been killed in a Russian airstrike.^[37] These claims were disproven when al-Julani visited the Citadel of Aleppo on 4 December 2024, following its capture by his forces earlier that month.^[38][39]

During the capture of Aleppo, al-Julani instructed his forces not to "scare children" and HTS channels broadcast footage of Christians in the city continuing their normal activities. Archbishop Afram Ma'lui stated that services would not be affected by the change in control. After regime forces were expelled from the city, al-Julani declared "diversity is a strength." HTS quickly established administrative bodies to restore basic services, including garbage collection, electricity, and water. The group's General Zakat Commission began distributing emergency bread supplies, while its General Organization for Grain Trade and Processing provided fuel to local bakeries. The Ministry of Development and Humanitarian Affairs reported delivering 65,000 loaves of bread under a campaign called "Together We Return."^[40]

On 6 December, in a face-to-face interview with CNN, al-Julani declared that the offensive's goal was to remove Assad from power. Using his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, he explicitly pledged to protect minority groups.^[17] According to Dareen Khalifa of the International Crisis Group, al-Julani has considered dissolving HTS to strengthen civilian and military governance structures.^[41] He also expressed his intention to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their homes.^[42]

On 1 June 2021 PBS Frontline released a documentary The Jihadist in which al-Julani's past is investigated in the context of the ongoing Syrian civil war.^[43] Reflecting on his past affiliation with Al-Qaeda, Julani commented in the interview:

"The history of the region and what it went through over the past 20 or 30 years needs to be taken into consideration... We are talking about a region ruled by tyrants, by people who rule with iron fists and their security apparatuses. At the same time, this region is surrounded by numerous conflicts and wars... We can't take a segment of this history and say so-and-so joined Al Qaeda. There are thousands of people who joined Al Qaeda, but let us ask what was the reason behind these people joining Al Qaeda? That's the question. Are the U.S. policies after World War II toward the region partially responsibility for driving people towards Al Qaeda organization? And are the European policies in the region responsible for the reactions of people who sympathize with the Palestinian cause or with the way the Zionist regime deals with the Palestinians?.. are the broken and oppressed peoples who had to endure what happened in Iraq, for example, or in Afghanistan, are they responsible..?.. our involvement with Al Qaeda in the past was an era, and it ended, and even at that time when we were with Al Qaeda, we were against external attacks, and it's completely against our policies to carry out external operations from Syria to target European or American people. This was not part of our calculations at all, and we did not do it at all."^[44]

• Abu Jaber Shaykh
• Ali Keda
• Riad al-Asaad
• Saif al-Adel
• Abd al-Rahman al-Maghribi

• Abu Muhammad al-Golani Counter Extremism Project profile