Blazer-wearing Terrorist

The promises of a peaceful transition of power are broken daily by the new “Free Syria”: torture, harassment, and murder under Syria’s new ruler Jolani.
Why the West loves the ex-Al-Qaida so much and how Turkey and Israel are using the fall of Assad to solve the Kurdish and Palestinian problems.

This article is a continuation of our series on Syria, but can also be read as a standalone piece — however, we recommend reading the previous series here.
Special thanks to our comrade Amir Schumo who provided us with information and anecdotes for this article.

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The phoenix rising from the ashes of old Syria is gradually revealing its face.
The bourgeois press here in the West almost snarls at the thought that Russia has lost influence in the region with its troop withdrawal:
“This presents the West with the opportunity to limit Russian influence in the region in the long term.”[1]
Regarding the hope that Russian and Iranian influence has been ended by the fall of Assad in the Middle East, the media here presents the new rulers of HTS in a way that approaches rose-colored glasses:
“Al-Sharaa had announced that all systemic violence and torture practiced in Assad’s Syria would be prosecuted, but no vigilantism would be tolerated.” (Tagesanzeiger)[2]

The announcements regarding vigilantism and torture have already proven to be void; hourly, new footage emerges of ex-soldiers hung from cranes, naked men being hanged behind cars and pulled, mass executions of (presumed) Assad loyalists, and random shots at demonstrators.
“This resembles a professional army. Now, the formation of a government could succeed — if certain criteria are met.” (Tagesschau) [3]
It seems that the established media do not report on these (not hard to find) events in order to continue portraying the picture of the disciplined, almost secular “blazer-wearing ‘revolutionary’” (CNN) Jolani.
This “rebel leader” Jolani is ultimately a good tyrant; HTS directly serves Turkey and Israel’s interests, indirectly also ours.
The Hezbollah, which in recent months has dealt Israel more than a setback, can no longer transport weapons and ammunition into Lebanon without Assad’s regime.
Turkey finally has a regime in Syria with HTS that allows it to carry out attacks outside Idlib against the Democratic Self-Administration of North and East Syria (Rojava).
Germany, the United States, and other allies can rejoice in the territorial weakening of their main enemies Russia and Iran, and if all goes well, soon also express their interests in Gaza.
So: everyone happy, or?

Recap: Who is Jolani?

The roots of Jolani’s rapid rise over the Syrian state lie in Idlib:
The border region of Idlib in western Syria has been under de facto Turkish control since the start of the Syrian civil war and is used as a refuge for Islamist and fascist forces who were threatened by Assad’s forces or Rojava.
One such force was HTS, which was born in 2017 as an offshoot of Al-Qaida in Syria.
HTS separated from Al-Qaida in 2017 after internal power struggles and consolidated its control over the Idlib governorate by 2020 (with Turkish permission).
Unlike, for example, the Taliban, which ideologically adhere to the Deobandi tradition, HTS’s ideology is based on the Salafist interpretation of Islam.
The IS also pursues a similar interpretation of (Salafist-)Islam, but actively seeks to establish a global caliphate; HTS, like the Taliban, aims only at a regional emirate.

The current leader of HTS, Jolani, was born in Riyadh and hails from the family originating from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. In 2011, he was sent to Syria by none other than Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the future leader of the Islamic State, to expand Al-Qaida’s influence amidst the outbreak of the Syrian revolution.

Jolani, Al-Qaida, and Al-Nusra

Jolani’s political beginnings were a direct response to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, after which he traveled from his homeland, the liberal bourgeois milieu in Damascus, to Baghdad to join Al-Qaida.
According to his own account, Jolani fought as a regular foot soldier of Al-Qaida against the American occupation in Iraq; other reports claim he participated in beheading resistant youth.
He states that he spent over five years in US prisons in Iraq, including the infamous Abu Ghraib torture prison.

When he returned to Syria in 2011 on al-Baghdadi’s orders, he founded the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of Al-Qaida, which he led from 2012 to 2016.
The Al-Nusra Front was intended to bring the successful jihad of Al-Qaida in Iraq into Syria’s fragile political landscape.

The split with al-Baghdadi occurred in 2014, when Jolani refused to incorporate the Al-Nusra Front into the newly founded “Islamic State” (IS).
Today, Jolani claims he opposed the integration of Al-Nusra into IS because he viewed their methods as too radical — which is nonsense [4]; the desire for autonomy of Al-Nusra (or remaining under the protection of Al-Qaida) was solely driven by power politics, as Jolani would have had to relinquish parts of his regional power in Idlib if his militia was incorporated into IS.

In Idlib, Jolani was able to establish an Islamist proto-state in 2015 under Turkish permission, and in 2016 announced that he would no longer carry out attacks against “the West”.
The institutionalization of the Al-Nusra Front in Idlib allowed Turkey to use it as a direct instrument against Kurdish autonomy ambitions in North and East Syria, while also tying the tolerance of Jolani’s proto-state in Idlib to the condition of refraining from attacks on NATO-forces.

In spring 2017, Jolani announced that he was renaming Al-Nusra Front (after a previous name change) to Haiʾat Tahrir asch-Scham (HTS, Committee for the Liberation of the Levant) and breaking with Al-Qaida.
The goal for Jolani was to secure Western support outside Turkey and to incorporate other Al-Qaida disloyal militias into his ranks.
Jolani himself hoped to become a ‘new al-Baghdadi’ in Idlib. Criticism of him or his leadership often ended in death; at best, only torture.
For example, the 19-year-old Mohammed Tano was tortured to death in late 2019 for “blasphemy” after critical texts against Jolani appeared in his name.
During his terror regime in Idlib, he repeatedly claimed he was “no threat to the United States, and the government should remove him from its list of designated terrorists”[5], hoping to also count dollars as well as the millions of lire he received in the future.

After the fall of Assad, whose course and significance we discussed in Part 3 of our Syria series, Jolani criticized in his victory speech that Iran had used Syria as a playground and was responsible for widespread corruption and sectarianism.
It is notable that he did not criticize Turkey and Israel, especially since his family lived under Israeli occupation in the Golan Heights, and his nickname Jolani (al-Ǧaulānī) means “the one from Golan”.

The joy of the United States and its allies over the regime change in Syria is already evident in the official coverage of Jolani as “rebel leader”, and it is understandable:
A friendly regime in Syria means that Iran will have to limit its influence in the resistance against the mass murder in Gaza, it means Turkey has free rein against Rojava, and it means Syrian resources will soon be open to Western capital exporters.
As of yesterday (14.12.24), the US had been in contact with HTS for months before Assad’s fall.

A Piece of Cake

Since Assad’s fall, all interested actors have seized their chances in parts of Syria:
Israel has violated the demilitarized buffer zone from 1974, seized more land in the occupied Golan Heights and Mount Sheik, and occupied nine Syrian cities.
Israeli tanks advanced 18 kilometers into Syria, reaching within 23 kilometers of Damascus.
Since Assad’s fall, Israel has carried out over 300 airstrikes on Syrian military bases, air defense systems, radar installations, and weapons depots.
A public scientific research center near Damascus was also targeted.
Last week, Turkey launched a major attack on Manbij (Rojava) supported by directly paid mercenaries and HTS, killing 12 fighters of the People’s Defense Units (and over 200 Turkish mercenaries).
The attack on Manbij involved massive bombing of the dam to cause widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure.
The resistance of the YPG’s self-defense units managed to push back the attack on Manbij yesterday (14.12.24), but it is clear that Turkish terror against the self-administration in Rojava under HTS control will only intensify.
Two days ago, videos from Raqqa showed armed men in a pickup truck waving IS flags.
Raqqa had been a stronghold of ISIS until the SDF, led by the YPG, liberated the city.
Since 2019, Turkey has repeatedly bombed Raqqa to weaken Kurdish self-rule — now, with Turkey and HTS capable of attacking Kurdish autonomy from all sides, it is only a matter of time before ISIS regains influence in Idlib and Raqqa.

The new information about US contacts with HTS confirms the increasing influence of NATO countries beyond Turkey and (de facto) Israel in the fall of Assad.
Future developments will shed more light on this, possibly explaining the unusually rapid advance of HTS towards Damascus.

Interview with a Syrian Communist

To better understand the situation on the ground, we interviewed our Syrian comrade Amir Schumo about HTS, Syria’s future, and the geopolitical significance of this upheaval.
Amir is a Kurd from North-East Syria (today Rojava) and organized protests against Assad during the Syrian revolution. He has been politically active since then.
In 2015, Amir came to Germany; part of his family is still in Syria.
He is an expert on the region and has provided a detailed overview of the developments and their significance, along with personal anecdotes.

What is HTS, what is its connection to Turkey and Israel? Is it interested in a bourgeois-democratic regime?

Hajat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a jihadist-Salafist organization that evolved from the terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra — the Syrian branch of the terrorist network Al-Qaida.
Since 2012, Turkey has not considered Jabhat al-Nusra a threat, despite controlling territories along the Turkish border for years.
HTS was regarded as Turkey’s main instrument in the fight against the Assad regime.
It is also important to mention the so-called Free Syrian Army — another tool used by Turkey in Syria, especially in the fight against Kurds in North and East Syria (Rojava, KP).

Jabhat al-Nusra seeks to establish a Godly state governed by Islamic Sharia law.
This goal is similar to that of ISIS, but with a key difference: while ISIS aims to spread its ideology and caliphate to other countries, Jabhat al-Nusra focuses solely on local objectives within Syria.
In this regard, the group resembles the Taliban in Afghanistan.

As long as Israel does not bomb HTS troops, it indicates that Israel does not see them as a major threat.
Everyone knows Israel is capable of bombing any point in the Middle East without hesitation.

Have you personally seen much; or do you know someone who has had experience with HTS?

A friend from Aleppo was a member of Jabhat al-Nusra and threatened me with death via Facebook.
He wrote this in mid-2013:
He: “You are a communist atheist. You are actively against a Godly state. You only need to be loyal to establish the Godly state.”
I: “I want a state where everyone lives freely and democratically. If you don’t like that, then go to Afghanistan and live with the Taliban.”
He: “We will cut your head off. You are an enemy of God. Wait and see.”

How do you assess the current situation for Rojava? What do you think will happen for Rojava in the new situation?

The situation in Rojava is dangerous.
While HTS advanced against Assad’s regime, the so-called Free Syrian Army, financed and armed by Turkey, launched a full-scale attack on Rojava, including extensive support from the Turkish air force.

At the time of writing, Turkey continues to bomb Rojava with drones and artillery.
Rojava is the last bastion of democracy and freedom in Syria, while the rest of the country is now controlled by jihadist-Salafist groups (Free Syrian Army & HTS).
It is especially noteworthy that over 65,000 ISIS members are imprisoned in Rojava!
It’s like a time bomb that could explode at any moment.

I am pessimistic because Rojava is so isolated and attacked from all sides by jihadists and Turkey.
As a Kurd, I feel that the Kurds have been abandoned.

But hope dies last: I hope that the Anti-ISIS coalition will protect and support Rojava against these barbarians.

Do you think the situation will improve for other people in Syria? How realistic is a scenario where Daesh regains power?

As long as Islamists or jihadists are in power, the situation will not improve.

What surprised me is that HTS is described as freedom fighters or rebels in Western media!
These so-called freedom fighters march through cities where minorities mostly live, shouting ISIS slogans and waving ISIS flags, e.g., the video from Masyaf (pickup truck with ISIS flag, KP).

A possible scenario where Daesh regains power:
If these terrorists successfully attack Rojava, one of their first actions would be to free detained ISIS jihadists from SDF prisons.
This would result in about 65,000 ISIS fighters gaining their freedom, continuing their terror within Rojava.
Groups like HTS or the so-called Free Syrian Army are sympathizers of Daesh (Islamic State, KP).
As long as these groups remain in power, the likelihood of Daesh’s return is extremely high! (I have videos showing ISIS insignia on their uniforms.)

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[1] https://www.n-tv.de/politik/Russland-in-Syrien-In-Putins-rauchenden-Ruinen-liegt-eine-Chance-article25430475.html

[2] https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/syrien-so-wollen-die-rebellen-der-hts-um-al-sharaa-regieren-875355688064

[3] https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/asien/syrien-akteure-102.html

[4] After Russia’s intervention in Syria in 2015, Jolani called on “Caucasus jihadists” for revenge against the Russian civilian population — so much for less radical methods.

[5] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/abu-mohammad-al-jolani-interview-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-syria-al-qaeda/

[6] Source: SDF press