Mohammed al-Jolani standing on a hill overlooking the Syrian capital Damascus a day after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government, Dec. 9, 2024.<\/p>\n
Only a day after West-backed militant groups led\u00a0by Hay\u2019at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)\u00a0took control of\u00a0Damascus, ending Bashar al-Assad’s long reign, HTS leader Abu Muhammad al-Jolani\u00a0stood triumphantly on a hill\u00a0overlooking the Syrian capital.<\/strong><\/p>\n Wearing army fatigue, Ahmed al-Sharaa, popularly known as Jolani, looked on as plumes of smoke billowed into the sky\u2014a grim spectacle of destruction wrought by Israeli bombings following the ouster of Assad’s democratically-elected government in Damascus.<\/p>\n The haunting scene\u00a0evoked an eerie parallel to Emperor Nero, who infamously watched Rome burn while playing his lyre\u2014portraying an\u00a0image of power and apathy.<\/p>\n As the Israeli regime grabbed more Syrian land beyond the occupied Golan Heights\u00a0and launched unprecedented airstrikes on Damascus, HTS militants gleefully roamed the streets, celebrating the “conquest,”\u00a0and unleashed\u00a0a brutal campaign of throat-slitting and terrorizing minorities.<\/p>\n The tumultuous events that eventually led to the overthrow of the Assad government began\u00a0on November 27, when videos surfaced of militant groups in Aleppo making rapid advances.<\/p>\n These groups swiftly and dramatically escalated their advances, capturing strategic military bases in Idlib and Hama before marching\u00a0toward the capital\u00a0Damascus.<\/p>\n On December 8, they\u00a0delivered a televised address from Damascus, declaring the end of Assad\u2019s 24-year reign\u2014a seismic shift in the region\u2019s power dynamics with all eyes on Jolani as the leader.<\/p>\n Abu Muhammad al-Jolani was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 1982 to a Syrian family originally from the occupied Golan Heights of Syria, which has been under Israeli occupation for years.<\/p>\n His family returned to Syria in 1989, settling in Damascus’s affluent Mezzeh district. Jolani pursued media studies in Damascus before relocating to Iraq in 2003, just prior to the US invasion.<\/p>\n In Iraq, he joined the al-Qaeda terrorist group and became a key figure in the group.<\/p>\n He was captured by American forces in 2006\u00a0and\u00a0spent five years imprisoned at Camp Bucca before being released in 2011. After that, he moved back to Syria and gained prominence as a militant leader.<\/p>\n Jolani\u2019s journey through the ranks of Takfiri terrorist\u00a0groups was spectacular as he became a close aide to top al-Qaeda leaders including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.<\/p>\n After his release from Camp Bucca in 2011, where he forged connections with future Daesh leaders, Jolani emerged as a key figure in the global Takfiri terrorist movement.<\/p>\n He initially served as a Daesh commander in Iraq\u2019s Nineveh and Mosul provinces before being handpicked by Daesh chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2012 to establish a Syrian affiliate at the outset of the West-backed militancy against the Assad government in the Arab country.<\/p>\n HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani entered the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.<\/p>\n Follow Press TV on Telegram: https:\/\/t.co\/0EMmcJsEtj<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/cxGDRNKtwi<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 PressTV Extra (@PresstvExtra) December 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nWho is al-Jolani? <\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n