Ahmad Hussein Ash-Shara, widely known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, was born in Damascus in 1982 to a lower-middle-class Sunni Arab family. His father owned a grocery store, and al-Julani assisted him while completing his high school education. The nickname “al-Julani” reflects his connection to the Golan Heights, from which his parents fled during the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War. This experience deeply influenced his identity and later activities.
In an interview with the American Public Broadcasting Network, al-Julani revealed that his interest in Middle Eastern politics began around the age of 18, spurred by the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000. He expressed a strong emotional connection to the plight of Palestinians and the ongoing occupation of the Golan Heights.
In early 2003, as the United States prepared to invade Iraq, the 21-year-old al-Julani joined hundreds of Islamist volunteers transported to Baghdad with the assistance of Bashar al-Assad’s regime to support Saddam Hussein’s Baathist government against American forces. After the American occupation of Iraq, he became a mid-level commander in Al-Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
In 2005, al-Julani was captured by US forces and detained for five years in the Bucca prisoner of war camp near the Kuwaiti border. During his imprisonment, the camp served as a breeding ground for jihadist ideologies. Al-Julani authored a 50-page manifesto outlining his vision for toppling the Assad regime in Syria, advocating against sectarian warfare due to Syria’s ethnically diverse composition.
After his release in 2010, al-Julani relocated to Iraq’s Al-Anbar province, where he gained the attention of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). Tasked with expanding ISI’s operations in Syria, al-Julani received $50,000 in funding but managed to recruit only six fighters. Despite the initial challenges, his group, Jabhat al-Nusra (“Front of Support”), quickly grew to 5,000 fighters within a year, aligning itself with Al-Qaeda under Ayman al-Zawahiri.
In April 2013, al-Baghdadi declared that Jabhat al-Nusra was part of ISIS, but al-Julani rejected the integration, leading to violent clashes between the two factions in eastern Syria. The rivalry involved ideological differences, territorial control, and revenue disputes. Al-Julani’s Jabhat al-Nusra drew inspiration from the Umayyad dynasty, contrasting ISIS’s reverence for the Abbasid Empire.
In 2016, al-Julani severed ties with Al-Qaeda, rebranding his organization as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (“The Front for the Conquest of Syria”) to focus on regional goals rather than a global jihad. Subsequently, the group evolved into Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), presenting itself as a Syrian nationalist movement. Al-Julani also adopted a more pragmatic approach, including changes in attire, shifting from traditional Islamic clothing to military uniforms, and moderating his group’s policies towards non-Sunni minorities in occupied territories.
Today, al-Julani leads an estimated 10,000 fighters, with other factions aligned under the “Salvation Government” in Syria. Unlike ISIS, HTS refrains from declaring a pan-Islamic caliphate and avoids imposing strict Islamic laws in its territories.
The fall of Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024, marked a pivotal moment in Middle Eastern geopolitics. For Israel, the situation presents both opportunities and risks. Al-Julani’s hostility towards Hezbollah, due to its role in massacring Sunni civilians during the Syrian Civil War, suggests that HTS may block the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah via Syria. This could weaken Hezbollah’s military capabilities and bolster Lebanon’s anti-Hezbollah majority in parliament.
Iran faces significant setbacks, losing its strategic foothold in Syria and potentially Lebanon. With domestic unrest and economic crises, Iran’s vision of a “Shi’ite Crescent” appears increasingly unattainable.
Al-Julani’s pragmatism, while noteworthy, cannot erase his Islamist ideology and his symbolic attachment to the Golan Heights and Palestinian territories. Israel and its allies must carefully balance their strategies, leveraging economic aid from the Gulf States and military deterrence to influence HTS’s future actions.
The fall of Assad offers an unprecedented opportunity to reshape the region’s power dynamics. International stakeholders must act decisively to stabilize Syria and curtail the influence of radical groups while addressing the concerns of affected populations.
