Hula Hilwiyat
Born into luxury, radicalized by war, and then rebranded for Western consumption, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani’s trajectory reeks of opportunism.
Born Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a in 1982 to an affluent Syrian family lavishing their riches in Saudi Arabia, he later returned to Damascus. His family resided in the posh Mezzeh neighborhood, a hub for Syria’s elite. Interestingly, Jolani is the cousin of Farouk al-Shar’a, Syria’s former foreign minister and vice president, with strong ties to the highest rungs of power.
Yet Jolani grew bored with his riches and aspired for a more action-packed life. After the illegal 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, Jolani joined Al-Qaeda in Iraq, fighting American troops and as well as other Iraqi groups in a struggle to fill a growing power vacuum. In 2006, Jolani was captured by U.S. forces and imprisoned for five years in American-run facilities, including the infamous torture site Abu Ghraib.
By the time Jolani resurfaced around 2011, he was ideologically hardened and ready to import his terror next door in Syria – which interestingly happened to be the next main U.S. target for occupation after Iraq. Furthermore, it was never really explained under what terms the U.S. released him.
Upon his release, al-Jolani wasted no time rushing back into the arms of the insurgent fold. He reunited with his Al-Qaeda brethren and was promptly sent to Syria by Daesh/”ISIS” (then still calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq), under the brutal leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. But Jolani did not come empty handed. After spending years in a prison where CIA agents would recruit spies and agents, Jolani had a lot more to bring than a prison-hardened drive for war.
Jolani reportedly showed up with millions of dollars and a mission to hijack Syria’s unrest – imposed by the United States and its proxies – by building an Al-Qaeda stronghold in the heart of the Levant. This mission birthed the Jabhat al-Nusra (al-Nusra Front), Al-Qaeda’s Syrian counterpart, which Jolani launched in late 2011. Jolani’s objective was to dismantle the Syrian state – a backbone of the Resistance Axis – and replace it with a reactionary, imperialist-aligned emirate. Under Jolani’s command, al-Nusra became infamous for its scorched-earth tactics including but not limited to: bombing hospitals, beheading prisoners, executing religious minorities, and pillaging historic Christian and Druze villages. Their rampage carved through Aleppo, Idlib, Homs, and beyond, earning accolades from fellow terrorists.
Jolani’s questionable rise came upon riding the waves of collapsing states. He began his career as Baghdadi’s earnest lprotégé in the Daesh/”ISIS” enterprise, but like every opportunistic imperialist foot-soldier, he ultimately was not content being a sidekick.
When Baghdadi tried to absorb Nusra into Daesh in 2013, Jolani rejected the advance and ran straight to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Jolani wanted his own collapsing state to micromanage and exploit. What followed was a brutal custody battle, with Daesh and Nusra turning Syria into a blood-soaked contest for control, territory, and fresh recruits. Jolani emerged as the “disciplined” leader, despite the UN and U.S. having already slapped Nusra with a terrorist designation back in 2012.
It is undeniable based on this chain of events that the West handed Jolani his power on a silver platter. U.S. officials cheered on the so-called struggle for “Syrian freedom” and even armed “moderate rebels” despite knowing they were the most reactionary forces on the ground, with Nusra at the front. Al-Qaeda-linked factions dominated Syria’s insurgency, and every liar in Washington knew it. As one analysis put it, these militias became “the biggest beneficiaries of the CIA’s” regime-change slush fund. A leaked 2012 email to then Secretary of State Hilary Clinton even had U.S. officials admitting, “AQ is on our side in Syria.”
If you enjoy concepts like freedom, you should not have “AQ” on your side. Jolani’s fighters raked in weapons, salaries, and logistical support laundered through Gulf monarchies but were categorized as a grassroots, organic opposition.
In July 2016, drunk on ambition and full-fledged Western support, Jolani decided it was time for a makeover, and rebranded yet again. He announced a break from Al-Qaeda, relaunched his crew as “Jabhat Fatah al-Sham,” and suddenly pretended to be invested in local governance. By early 2017, he merged with other reactionary factions and rolled out the name we all know today, “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham” (HTS).
Through assassinations, threats, and shady deals, Jolani built himself a warlord regime. HTS kept all the greatest hits from the Nusra days, such as torture, public stonings, forced disappearances, and executions. Human rights groups and the UN have piled up reports of abuse in HTS-held areas, before Jolani’s presidency. Back in 2013, CNN called Jolani one of the world’s “most dangerous” terrorists. They of course failed to mention that the U.S. was funding him all along through CIA Operation “Timber Sycamore”. His violence targets other Syrians, especially Alawites, Christians, women, workers, and anyone not conceding to this tyrannical rule.
After ditching the fatigues and cleaning up his beard, Jolani started showing up places in Western suits, anticipating his rise as a U.S.-backed comprador. Famously, in 2021, he sat down for a glossy PBS Frontline interview with Martin Smith, who was warmly hosted in HTS-controlled Idlib for what amounted to a carefully scripted propaganda special. Jolani insisted HTS had severed ties with Al-Qaeda, said they posed no threat to the West, and portrayed himself as a misunderstood rebel simply fighting dictatorship. He even complained that being on the U.S. terror list was unfair and politically motivated. Unfortunately, PBS ate it right up, and as most U.S. journalists, aired the special without challenging Jolani in any meaningful way.
The rest of the media followed suit. CNN cooed over his stylish outfit, calling him a “blazer-wearing revolutionary.” Rolling Stone rebranded him as a “pragmatic” politician, and The Daily Telegraph praised HTS as “diversity-friendly.” No one has yet to define what the West considers to be moderate. Even the hard-to-impress Washington Post showered him with admiration, focusing a bit more on his “charisma” than the public executions he oversaw.
But, as Palestinian journalist Ali Abunimah observed, Jolani really didn’t “reinvent himself” at all because “he had the whole propaganda and intelligence apparatus of the West” doing it for him. The class nature of his project remains unchanged: HTS continues to enforce a reactionary, imperialist-friendly order, crushing any opposition, while Jolani himself seeks help from the very Western powers that continue to ravage the region.
Far and away the strongest testament to Jolani’s counter-revolutionary nature is his groveling stance toward regional menace, the Israeli occupation. His very alias, “al-Jolani,” means “from the Golan,” referencing the Syrian Golan Heights, which have been under Zionist occupation since 1967. Yet this self-styled “liberator” has shown zero interest in reclaiming an inch of it and is currently conceding more of it. As self-proclaimed president, Jolani publicly declared that HTS had “no intention of confronting Israel,” insisting that Syria had neither the will nor the capacity for war. With breathtaking cowardice, he claimed the only real threat was from Iranian forces and Hezbollah, ironically the groups materially resisting Israeli and Western aggression – ultimately towing the Washington-Tel Aviv political line. He said this while Israeli warplanes quite literally rained missiles down on Syrian territory. Jolani’s silence on these attacks, along with HTS spokespeople dodging every question about Israel, shows us exactly who they are.
Jolani’s shameless alignment with Israel should come as no surprise, considering his financial backing. While Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad, remained a consistent supporter of Palestinian resistance, Jolani and HTS bent over backwards to appease the occupier. One rebel commander even declared the goal was “full peace with Israel,” proudly noting that since 2011 the opposition “never made any critical comments against Israel, unlike Hezbollah.”
Another gushed to Israeli media, “We don’t hate you, we love you… we were quite happy when you attacked Hezbollah.” These humiliating, gross statements say everything about the class and political loyalties of Jolani’s camp.
Israel spent years backing the Syrian opposition, including HTS, with weapons, funds, and even medical treatment – as long as they focused their firepower on Assad, Hezbollah, and Iran. Daesh/”ISIS” once reportedly apologized to Israel after mistakenly firing in its direction. It is no surprise then that self-proclaimed president Jolani has no problem with Israeli jets bombing Syrian cities, ruining Syria’s stockpile of defense ammunition, and openly declaring he wanted to normalize relations with Tel Aviv. Reports from 2024 even suggest that Israeli forces assisted HTS offensives. Jolani and Israel shared one strategic aim: to destroy the Axis of Resistance. Jolani opposed Assad for one reason only: to sell Syria off, piece by piece, to imperial sponsors.
Abu Mohammad al-Jolani’s path from spoiled Damascenian kid to Al-Qaeda emir to Western-backed warlord is a textbook example of reaction serving empire. He fills a vacancy for imperial strategy. Jolani’s HTS has acted as a blunt instrument for foreign interests, funded by Gulf monarchies, armed and managed by the U.S. and UK, shielded by Turkey, and aligned in practice with Israel. His forces have terrorized, abducted, trafficked, and killed workers, women, and minorities, enforcing imperialist order with sectarian violence and tyranny. Western powers once correctly labeled him a terrorist but now treat him as a legitimate political figure because he delivered. HTS fractured Syria, eliminated any resistance, and promised not to interfere with Zionist interests, a dream come true for the U.S. and its allies.
That such a loathsome, craven figure could be whitewashed and rebranded by Western media and officials speaks volumes about the moral rot of imperial politics. By now, the mask is off, and U.S. envoys openly refer to HTS as an “asset,” and British diplomats pose for photos with him like he’s hosting a regional summit.
This normalization campaign is his reward for being their lapdog. Jolani upheld the interests of the West in Syria, crushed the working class, destroyed resistance to occupation, secured Israel’s path to encroaching more territory, and paved the way for neoliberal reconstruction.
In return, he is being sold to the public as a pragmatic solution rather than a loser criminal. Syria has been tremendously set back – for now.
Hula Hilwiyat is a political commentator with a focus on Syria, U.S. Foreign Policy, and Western Asia.
Sources:
Hamid Alizadeh – “Assad falls, Islamists take over Syria” (In Defence of Marxism, 8 December 2024)
https://communist.red/assad-falls-islamists-take-over-syria
Hélène Sallon & Madjid Zerrouky – “Syrians describe the violence targeting Alawite minority: ‘Tomorrow, there won’t be a man left alive in my village'” (Le Monde, 9 March 2025)
Syrians describe the violence targeting Alawite minority: ‘Tomorrow, there won’t be a man left alive in my village’
US ‘prepared Syrian rebel group to help topple Bashar al-Assad’
‘We’re all afraid’: Austria moves to deport Syrian refugees
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2025/03/were-all-afraid-austria-moves-deport-syrian-refugees
Israel set to stay in Syria for years with Trump’s support, ‘Post’ learns
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-842018#google_vignette
Turkey, Israel Clash Over Syria’s Future
https://www.voanews.com/a/turkey-israel-clash-over-syria-s-future/8007134.html
