Who is Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, closing in on Bashar al-Assad?
Embattled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was dealt yet another blow on Saturday, December 7, as resurgent rebel groups took control of another city. Daraa, located roughly 100 km from the Syrian capital Damascus, became the fourth city to fall into the hands of rebels after Deir el-Zor, Aleppo, and Hama.
While Deir el-Zor was captured by US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters, Daraa ĄŞ the birthplace of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 ĄŞ along with Aleppo and Hama, is now controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a terrorist group once linked to Al-Qaeda.
Also read:?'Leave the earliest': Here is why India has asked citizens to avoid travelling to Syria
What is?Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
HTS was founded in 2012 as Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Al-Nusra Front, one of several Islamist militant groups that emerged in Syria following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, with the aim of dethroning the al-Assad government.
Who is Abu Mohammad al-Jolani?
Since its inception, the Al-Nusra Front has been led by Ahmed Hussein al-SharĄŻa, better known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani. The 42-year-old served as the Emir of the Al-Nusra Front until it severed ties with Al-Qaeda.
In 2017, the group was rebranded as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, with al-Julani continuing as its commander-in-chief.
Al-Julani was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, into a family displaced from the Golan Heights in Syria during its occupation by Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967. He became involved with jihadist groups in the early 2000s after his family returned to Syria. In 2011, after the outbreak of the civil war, he worked closely with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to establish Al-Qaeda in Syria but fell out with him over the latter's desire to merge the outfit with ISIS.
Role in current uprising
In recent years, al-Julani and HTS have attempted to shed their jihadist past, projecting the group's primary aim as overthrowing al-Assad.
As Hayat Tahrir al-Sham continues its march towards Damascus to oust the al-Assad government, several images have surfaced on social media showing al-Julani in Aleppo, which is now firmly under rebel control.
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