Aletho News

ΑΛΗΘΩΣ

How ex-Daesh and al-Qaeda leader al-Jolani became West’s blue-eyed boy in Syria

By Alireza Akbari | Press TV | December 15, 2024

Only a day after West-backed militant groups led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of Damascus, ending Bashar al-Assad’s long reign, HTS leader Abu Muhammad al-Jolani stood triumphantly on a hill overlooking the Syrian capital.

Wearing army fatigues, Ahmed al-Sharaa, popularly known as Jolani, looked on as plumes of smoke billowed into the sky—a grim spectacle of destruction wrought by Israeli bombings following the ouster of Assad’s democratically-elected government in Damascus.

The haunting scene evoked an eerie parallel to Emperor Nero, who infamously watched Rome burn while playing his lyre—portraying an image of power and apathy.

As the Israeli regime grabbed more Syrian land beyond the occupied Golan Heights and launched unprecedented airstrikes on Damascus, HTS militants gleefully roamed the streets, celebrating the “conquest,” and unleashed a brutal campaign of throat-slitting and terrorizing minorities.

The tumultuous events that eventually led to the overthrow of the Assad government began on November 27, when videos surfaced of militant groups in Aleppo making rapid advances.

These groups swiftly and dramatically escalated their advances, capturing strategic military bases in Idlib and Hama before marching toward the capital Damascus.

On December 8, they delivered a televised address from Damascus, declaring the end of Assad’s 24-year reign—a seismic shift in the region’s power dynamics with all eyes on Jolani as the leader.

Who is al-Jolani?

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.

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.

In Iraq, he joined the al-Qaeda terrorist group and became a key figure in the group.

He was captured by American forces in 2006 and spent 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.

Jolani’s journey through the ranks of Takfiri terrorist groups was spectacular as he became a close aide to top al-Qaeda leaders including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

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.

He initially served as a Daesh commander in Iraq’s 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.

Jolani founded the Nusra Front as Daesh’s Syrian offshoot, leveraging the chaos to advance his agenda. However, a power struggle with al-Baghdadi over control of the group led to a split in 2013.

Jolani severed ties with Daesh and fortified his influence in Syria’s Idlib governorate, aligning the Nusra Front with al-Qaeda to retain the loyalty of hardline elements within his ranks.

While the split signaled a shift in allegiance, according to experts, it was less about ideology and more a personal rift. Jolani continued to espouse the Salafi ideology but sought to differentiate himself through a political veneer, setting him apart from figures like al-Zarqawi and al-Baghdadi.

Terror designation

The US State Department designated Jolani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in May 2013. By 2017, he was among the most wanted terrorists globally, with a $10 million bounty by the US government for information leading to his capture.

In an audio statement on September 28, 2014, Jolani declared his intent to fight the United States and its allies, urging his forces to reject Western assistance in their battle against Daesh.

Yet, just two years later, in July 2016, Jolani broke his pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri, aiming to rebrand his militant organization and broaden its alliances.

This strategic pivot marked a shift in Jolani’s focus—from global ambitions to governance in Syria.

Following the establishment of the HTS militant group in 2017, the group took control of large swathes of Idlib, where they established a rudimentary governing structure.

HTS began collecting taxes and issuing identity cards to locals. However, these efforts were marred by authoritarian practices, including the suppression of dissent and the arrest of political opponents.

Despite Jolani’s public commitment to protecting minorities, his group adopted high-handed measures against religious and ethnic minorities, especially those who spoke about discrimination.

While HTS made rapid strides in consolidating power in the region bordering Turkey, its track record of human rights abuses in Idlib continued to be an area of concern.

The group has been known for systematically silencing dissent, targeting rivals, and using disproportionate force against those who opposed his authoritarian practices.

Concerns have also grown over the presence of foreign mercenaries in HTS, particularly those in its elite Red Brigades, which include members from Central Asia, Chechnya, and France.

Bigger political aspirations

Despite his Takfiri-militant roots, Jolani’s bigger political aspirations kept him in the news for years, as he continued to harbor ambitions of capturing Damascus from his hideouts in Idlib, financially and militarily backed by the United States, the Israeli regime and some regional countries.

Now, with HTS and its allies controlling significant territory in Syria, questions loom over how they will govern the country. Around 100,000 Syrians have already gathered on the border to enter Lebanon, according to reports, desperate to leave their home country.

Fears persist about the treatment of minorities, dissidents, and women under their rule, as many Syrians and the international community remain wary of Jolani’s true intentions.

Despite growing concerns over HTS rule, fueled by viral videos showing the group’s violent tactics, both the UK and the US are reportedly reconsidering its designation as a terrorist organization.

The British government is actively weighing the removal of HTS from its list of designated terrorist groups, particularly in light of the group’s pivotal role in the fall of the Assad government.

UK government minister Pat McFadden has suggested that such a move could be “relatively swift,” given the rapidly changing dynamics in Syria.

Similarly, US officials are debating the merits of removing the $10 million bounty on Jolani.

After years of lobbying for delisting, HTS appears to have gained traction with Western powers, particularly following its instrumental role in Assad’s ousting, a goal it shared with Western powers.

For years, the US and its Western allies had tried to dislodge the Assad government, using transnational mercenary forces as well as terrorist groups without much luck.

al-Jolani finally accomplished what his Western backers couldn’t for years despite massive efforts.

In his first detailed interview on Saturday, he emphasized engagement with Western nations and confirmed that the channels of communication with Western embassies, including talks with the British government to restore its diplomatic representation in Damascus, are underway.

He once again asserted that his regime has no intention of engaging in a conflict with the Israeli regime, despite Benjamin Netanyahu decimating the Arab country’s military muscle in a few days.

December 15, 2024 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

Has Bibi Achieved His Dream of Obliterating the Arab World?

By Mike Whitney • Unz Review • December 14, 2024

Take a look at the map above. It explains everything.

This is roughly the situation on the ground today. The majority of Syria’s landmass is controlled by 5 groups: Al Qaida (HTS), the Kurds (SDF), the IDF (Israel), the Turks, and remnants of the Syrian Army (SAA). Of course, the situation is extremely fluid so some of the territory is likely to change hands in the near future as rival groups fight among themselves. But here’s what won’t change: A government will not emerge that is capable of stitching together a unified, contiguous, viable centrally-governed Syrian state. That’s not going to happen. The various armies are too powerful for any one group to crush the others and reestablish a government that rules all of Syria’s previously controlled territory.

Why does that matter?

Because we need to acknowledge that Israel has accomplished what it sought from the very beginning; they not only enlisted allies to help them topple Assad, but they also obliterated the Syrian state. Syria is gone; it no longer exists. And that has been Israel’s goal for more than 40 years.

So, we shouldn’t view the events of the last week as random or spontaneous, because they are neither. Everything that has taken place aligns closely with a strategic blueprint produced by a Zionist intellectual (Oded Yinon) more than four decades ago and which—according to biographer Israel Shahak—concocted “an accurate and detailed plan…. for the Middle East which is based on the division of the whole area into small states, and the dissolution of all the existing Arab states.” Full Stop.

This is where readers need to pause for a moment and honestly consider whether this accurately explains the endless fighting and turmoil we’ve seen in the Middle East for the last two decades?

The answer is: It does. Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Syria etc. These are not just countries; they are agenda items on a Zionist checklist for regional domination. So, stop thinking that the wars have something to do with Assad or oil or pipelines or Hamas or even Israeli security. Because they don’t. These are wars aimed at establishing Israeli hegemony across the Middle East. Let’s look at the document itself which is titled A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties by Oded Yinon:

The Moslem Arab World is built like a temporary house of cards put together by foreigners without the wishes and desires of the inhabitants having been taken into account. … every Arab Moslem state nowadays faces ethnic social destruction from within, and in some a civil war is already raging. All of the Arab states east of Israel are torn apart, broken up and riddled with conflict… This national ethnic minority picture extending from Morocco to India and from Somalia to Turkey points to the absence of stability and a rapid degeneration in the entire region. When this picture is added to the economic one, we see how the entire region is built like a house of cards, unable to withstand its severe problems… A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties, Oded Yinon, voltairenet

So, in the opening paragraphs, the author identifies the vulnerabilities within the current societies that can be exploited for Israel’s strategic advantage. The focus, of course, is on “ethnic minorities” that can be incited to exacerbate existing divisions within the society in order to weaken the larger body politic leading to regime change. Here’s the kicker:

The Western front… is in fact less complicated than the Eastern front. Lebanon’s total dissolution into five provinces serves as a precendent for the entire Arab World… The dissolution of Syria and Iraq later on into ethnically or religiously unique areas such as Lebanon, is Israel’s primary target on the Eastern front in the long run, while the dissolution of the military power of those states serves as the primary short term target. Syria will fall apart in accordance with its ethnic and reliegious strtucture, into several states such as in present day Lebanon, so that there will be a Shi’ite Alawi state along its coast, a Sunni state in Damascus hostile to its northern neighbor, and the Druzes who will set up a state, maybe even in our Golan, and certainly in the Hauran and in northenr Jordan. This state of affairs will be the guarantee for peace and security in the area in the long run, and that aim is already within our reach today… A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties, Oded Yinon, voltairenet

Repeat: “This state of affairs will be the guarantee for peace and security in the area in the long run.” In other words, inciting ethnic and religious violence against other groups within the society, is the operational strategy for achieving regional dominance. In order to establish Israeli security, Arabs must be encouraged to kill each other.

Are we clear about that?

Regarding the Palestinians, there’s this little nugget:

Genuine coexistence and peace will reign over the land only when the Arabs understand that without Jewish rule between the Jordan and the sea, they will have neither existence nor security. A nation of their own and security will be theirs only in Jordan. A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties,

Keep in mind, this was written in 1982 which means—that among the politicos in Netanyahu’s party—there was never any intention of exchanging land for peace or fulfilling their obligations under US Resolution 242 to evacuate the occupied territories. It was always a ruse aimed at confusing credulous nitwits in the US.

Economist Jeffrey Sachs has confirmed much of what we’ve stated here. He has recently been quite outspoken in a number of interviews on YouTube where he has laid blame for all the recent wars in the Middle East on Benjamin Netanyahu. Here’s Sach’s in a recent piece at Consortium News:

The fall of Syria this week is the culmination of the Israel-U.S. campaign against Syria that goes back to 1996 with Netanyahu’s arrival in office as prime minister. The Israel-U.S. war on Syria escalated in 2011 and 2012, when former U.S. President Barack Obama covertly tasked the C.I.A. with the overthrow of the Syrian Government in Operation Timber Sycamore. ….

Syria’s fall came swiftly because of more than a decade of crushing economic sanctions, the burdens of war, the U.S. seizure of Syria’s oil….. and most immediately, Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah… Netanyahu’s ambition to transform the region through war, which dates back almost three decades, is playing out in front of our eyes…

The long history of Israel’s campaign to overthrow the Syrian government is not widely understood, yet the documentary record is clear… 

Israel’s war on Syria began with U.S. and Israeli neoconservatives in 1996, who fashioned a “Clean Break” strategy for the Middle East for Netanyahu as he came to office… The core of the “clean break” strategy called for the Israel (and the U.S.) to reject “land for peace,” the idea that Israel would withdraw from the occupied Palestinian lands in return for peace… 

... Netanyahu’s strategy was integrated into U.S. foreign policy. Taking out Syria was always a key part of the plan. This was confirmed by General Wesley Clark after 9/11. (The role of the Israel Lobby is spelled out in Ilan Pappé’s new book, Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic)… 

The U.S. has by now led or sponsored wars against Iraq (invasion in 2003), Lebanon (U.S. funding and arming Israel), Libya (NATO bombing in 2011), Syria (C.I.A. operation during 2010s), Sudan (supporting rebels to break Sudan apart in 2011), and Somalia (backing Ethiopia’s invasion in 2006).

A prospective U.S. war with Iran, ardently sought by Israel, is still pending….. The U.S. and Israel are high-fiving that they have successfully wrecked yet another adversary of Israel and defender of the Palestinian cause, with Netanyahu claiming “credit for starting the historic process.”...

American interference, at the behest of Netanyahu’s Israel, has left the Middle East in ruins, with over a million dead and open wars raging in Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine, and with Iran on the brink of a nuclear arsenal, being pushed against its own inclinations to this eventuality. US & Israel Destroyed Syria & Called it Peace, Jeffrey Sachs, Consortium News

These are Israel’s wars, and they are prosecuted to pursue Israeli interests not American interests. The US military (and political class) has been hijacked by the maneuverings of strongarm lobbyists who know how to work the levers of power to achieve their own ends. Their rate of success speaks for itself. Much of the Middle East lies in ruins which was the plan from the get-go.

But now comes the hard part, because nothing has really been resolved in Syria. Yes, Assad is gone and, yes, the Syrian state has disintegrated. But how long will it take before Turkey is fighting the US-backed Kurds in the East, or before Israeli and Turkish interests clash in central or southern Syria or before HTS proves to be the unreliable terrorist organization it is known to be and refuses to follow its marching orders from Washington and Tel Aviv? So, yes, the invaders may be congratulating themselves this week “for a job well done”, but the Syrian conflagration is not over yet, not by a long-shot.

There was an important development that took place last week that provides a window into future goings-on in the battered country, although the statement was downplayed by most of the media. On Wednesday, officials of Hayat Tahrir-al Sham (HTS) announced that Mohammed al-Bashir had been appointed as Syria’s interim prime minister. Al-Bashir, who has been running the Idlib province, has been chosen to lead a small cabinet whose job will be to make sure the government agencies, banks and public services continue operate without interruption. More importantly, al-Bashir, who speaks English, is likely the designated technocrat chosen by Washington to jumpstart the sale of the country’s state-owned assets and businesses, its natural resources, and anything else of value. Judging from past experience, he will probably oversee a sharp reduction in government spending, as well as dramatic cutbacks in education, public safety and health care. He will also seek hefty loans from the IMF for reconstruction that will be diverted to foreign accounts for his family and cronies leaving ordinary Syrians with an ocean of red ink they can never hope to repay. Sound familiar?

Unfortunately, Bashir’s debut did not go as well as expected. Here’s the story from NBC News:

When Syria’s new interim prime minister, Mohammad al-Bashir, chaired a Cabinet meeting in Damascus on Tuesday, hanging behind him was the flag of the country’s suddenly victorious opposition. Next to it, however, was a second banner popular with the region’s Sunni Islamist fighters, featuring the large Arabic letters of the Shahada, an Islamic declaration of faith.

As a new Syria fast emerges from the ruins of the Assad regime, the world is watching for hints of what that might look like — and that second flag has concerned those hoping for a future of moderation and tolerance…

HTS is banned as a terrorist organization in the United States and elsewhere and grew out of a branch of Al Qaeda. Its leader, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, said a decade ago that there would be no room for religious minorities in the Islamist Syria of which he dreamed about. He also suggested that he could bring terrorism to the West unless it withdrew from the Middle East’s wars.

More recently, however, Jolani, who now uses his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has undergone something of a rebrand, trimming his beard, donning Westernized green fatigues and espousing tolerance for all of Syria’s myriad faiths. Nevertheless plenty of observers are reserving judgment until these words become actions…

Seeing Syria’s corridors of power welcome a flag “indicating Islamist-Salafist leanings” has “put people on alert,” Sukkar said. Although he does not think deploying the emblem was a “wise” move, he sees it as more reflective of the rebels’ origins in Idlib rather than anything else…

The classic worry among Western foreign policy watchers was that Assad might be toppled but replaced by something that is not much better: an extremist terror group…

Displaying the flag in an image meant to represent Syria’s new transition government shows how HTS and Jolani are still “deeply entrenched in their Salafist-Sunni ideology and worldview”…

With the group now making more moderate noises, and also in a position of considerable influence, the United States is exploring removing HTS’ terrorist designation, two current administration officials and a former senior U.S. official told NBC News. Although Washington will watch closely the militant group’s moves from its new political vantage point. Why a photo of Syria’s interim leader could hint at trouble ahead, NBC News

Mohammed al-Bashir before and after his Western Facelift

Let’s see if I got this right: The Biden administration replaces Assad with a terrorist organization but is suddenly surprised when it discovers the group is led by terrorists. Is that it?

Indeed, it is. As you can see, none of this resolves the basic crisis created by the removal of Assad. Instead, the main proponents of regime change—Turkey, the US and Israel—have merely transformed Syria into an even bigger battleground where their own competing interests will soon play out by way of mortal combat.

How long will it be before Turkey locks horns with Israel or the United States? How long before sectarian war engulfs the country?

Not long, I’d wager. And for the people who thought that toppling the “evil dictator” would bring peace and security. They’d better think again.

December 15, 2024 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Leave a comment

    Next Entries »