Abu Mohammed al-Golani, originally Hussein al-Ara, was born in 1983 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and rose as a key leader of the Syrian civil war with his militant group known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. That this jihadist warrior could become a possible architect for post-Assad Syria speaks to the nuances of the war in continuous action and to the changing character of insurgent leadership.
Early life and radicalization
In Al-Golani’s biography, the turning point was probably when his family moved him back to Syria in 1999. However, the starting point of his radicalization has been his relocation to Iraq in 2003, where he joined al-Qaeda in Iraq against the invasion led by the United States. After he had been captured by U.S. forces in 2006, he spent five years in detention, during which time he honed his ideological beliefs and military strategies.
After his release, al-Golani was tasked by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, then the emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq, to establish a branch of the organization in Syria, thus forming Jabhat al-Nusra, the Nusra Front, in 2011. It soon became one of the most feared groups fighting against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in the first years of the Syrian civil war.
Evolution of leadership and strategy
First aligned with al-Qaeda, al-Golani’s style of leadership dramatically changed over these years. In 2016, he went on camera to announce the split from al-Qaeda and the rebranding of his faction as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, claiming independence although keeping the jihadist roots alive. This strategic shift was the first major step toward dividing HTS from global jihadism and further into areas of local governance and political dispensation.
As the Syrian Civil War dragged on, al-Golani came to understand that pragmatism was called for in order to retain power and legitimacy with the local populations. He started to promote HTS as a governing body capable of maintaining civil services and stability in Idlib province, Syria’s last major rebel stronghold. He put in place a quasi-governmental structure that would cater to the needs of the locals while entrenching HTS as the defender of Sunni interests against Assad’s regime.
The role of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
HTS has become an important player under the lead of al-Golani within the complex Syria context. This jihadist group had launched several military attacks against Assad’s forces and had, from time to time, captured strategic territories like Aleppo. The current military operations by HTS demonstrate their capability to capitalize on the volatile changes at the grassroots level following weakened stances of Assad due to economic issues together with reduced support from fraternal allies like Russia and Iran.
HTS has equally embarked on professionalizing its military forces through the creation of training academies and rearranging its units into more conventional military structures. This transformation has thus enabled HTS to stage coordinated attacks effectively and sustain control in regions it governs.
Public image and governance
He has been trying to reinvent himself from a hardline jihadist leader into a more moderate figure who now champions governance representative of Syria’s population. He has sought to reach out to numerous communities that extremist factions have previously ostracized and has spoken of religious tolerance and pluralism.
He has articulated, in more recent interviews, a decentralized governance structure that gives emphasis to institutional decision-making at the expense of authoritarian rule. What this suggests is that HTS will possibly dissolve into more general political frameworks after Assad’s downfall and points to recognition of the fact that military might cannot legitimize political rule.
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