Abu Mohammad al-Julani

Abu Mohammad al-Julani
Emir of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 July 2016
Emir of the Al-Nusra Front
In office 23 January 2012 – 28 July 2016
Personal details
Born	Daraa, Syria[1]
Nationality	Syrian
Religion	Sunni Islam
Nickname(s)	'The Conqueror Sheikh'[2]
Military career
Allegiance	Al-Qaeda (2003–2016) Al-Qaeda in Iraq (2004–2006) Mujahideen Shura Council (January 2006 – October 2006) Islamic State of Iraq (2006–2012) Al-Nusra Front (2012–2016) Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (2016–present)
Years of service	2003–present
Rank	Emir of the Al-Nusra Front
Battles/wars	Iraq Iraq War Iraqi Insurgency Syria Syrian Revolution Inter-rebel conflict Deir ez-Zor clashes (2011-2014) Deir ez-Zor offensive Idlib offensive (2014) Idlib offensive (2015) Lebanon Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon

Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a^[3] (Arabic: أحمد حسين الشرع‎‎), known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani^[4] (Arabic: أبو محمد الجولاني‎‎), is the emir of the Syrian militant group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham; he also led its predecessor organisation Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda.^[5] Al-Julani was listed by the US State Department as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" on 16 May 2013.^[6]

Little is known about him. The phrase "Al-Julani" in his nom de guerre is a reference to Syria's Golan Heights, partially occupied and annexed by Israel during the war in 1967.^[7] A Jordanian security official says only the top echelon in al-Qaeda know al-Julani's real name, but that he is commonly known to them as "al-Sheikh al-Fateh", meaning "the Conqueror Sheikh".^[4]

Al-Julani released an audio statement on 28 September 2014, in which he stated he would fight the "United States and its allies" and urged his fighters not to accept help from the West in their battle against ISIL.^[8]

On 28 July 2016, al-Julani announced that Jabhat al-Nusra has split from al-Qaeda. In his recorded message, he said the new name of his organization would be Jabhat Fateh al-Sham [Front for the Conquest of Syria].^[9]

Biography

Early life and Iraq War

Abu Mohammad al-Julani in this mugshot image taken at Camp Bucca, Iraq.

Ahmad Hussain al-Sharaa was born in the village of Al-Rafid, Syria in the Quneitra Governorate in the Golan Heights. His father worked in the oil industry before he moved to Saudi Arabia to work in a number of companies there. His father published a number of books on economics. After several years, his father returned to Syria and opened a business near his residence in Damascus. His mother was a geography teacher and has an MA. He grew up in Damascus after his family were made refugees after Israel took the Golan Heights. He studied all his school years in Damascus. He studied media at university in Damascus. The Iraq war interrupted his studies and he left to join the insurgency in Iraq.

Once al-Julani moved to Iraq to fight American troops after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he quickly rose through the ranks of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and reportedly was a close associate of its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. After al-Zarqawi was killed by a US airstrike in 2006, al-Julani left Iraq, briefly staying in Lebanon, where he offered logistical support for the Jund al-Sham militant group. He returned to Iraq to continue fighting but was arrested by the US military and held at Camp Bucca. At that camp, where the US military held tens of thousands of suspected militants, he taught classical Arabic to other prisoners.^[4]

After his release from Camp Bucca prison in 2008, al-Julani resumed his militant work, this time alongside Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the then Islamic State of Iraq (ISI). He was soon appointed head of ISI operations in Nineveh Province.^[4]

He fought against the American troops for several months before he was arrested. He stayed in jail for several months before he was handed over to the Syrian authorities. He was arrested but then released shortly after. He was re-arrested between 2004-2005 after reports about his ideological inclinations. He was imprisoned in Sednaya Prison. Nobody knew if he was still alive, until prisoners left and told his family that he was still alive. His parents tried, in vain, to visit him. Even Farouk al-Sharaa, then the Vice President of Syria, tried to help them but the visit was rejected. He was released during the Civil uprising phase of the Syrian Civil War in a well-known amnesty.

Syrian Civil War

Syrian uprising and foundation of al-Nusra

Shortly after the uprising against the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad began in 2011, Julani was released from prison and was based in Syria. He reached out to the Islamic State of Iraq, and was instructed to start Jabhat al-Nusra as a front group for the Islamic State of Iraq by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to whom he had his allegiance and under whose command he was. Julani's formation of Jabhat al-Nusra was facilitated by men, arms and money given to him by the ISI under the orders of al-Baghdadi. Julani was declared the "general emir" of al-Nusra, which was first announced in January 2012. Under al-Julani’s leadership, Nusra grew into one of the most powerful rebel groups in Syria.^[4]

Rise of ISIL

Al-Julani gained prominence in April 2013, when he refused al-Baghdadi's attempts to take direct control of Al-Nusra in an expansion of the ISI into Syria, under the name of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Al-Julani pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahri, who supported Julani's stance against the merger, and al-Nusra became Al-Qaeda's official Syrian branch.^[10][11] Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi rejected al-Zawahiri's ruling and declared that the merger of the two organizations was going ahead. Clashes ensued between al-Nusra Front and ISIL for control of Syrian territory.^[12]

Despite some friction with members of the mainstream Free Syrian Army rebel umbrella group, al Julani's Jabhat al-Nusra often work together against the Syrian army in opposition-held areas. The group is more popular in Syria than ISIL, which is largely made up of foreign fighters and has been criticized for its brutality and for trying to impose a strict version of Islamic law in areas under its control. Al-Nusra, by contrast, is made up mostly of Syrians, many of whom fought American forces in Iraq.^[4]

Resurgence of al-Nusra

Abu Mohammad al-Julani (face hidden) being interviewed by Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed Mansour, in Idlib, Syria, on 27 May 2015.

In late May 2015, during the Syrian civil war, al-Julani was interviewed by Ahmed Mansour on Qatari news broadcaster Al Jazeera, hiding his face. He described the Geneva peace conference as a farce and claimed that the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition did not represent the Syrian people and had no ground presence in Syria. Al-Julani mentioned that al-Nusra have no plans for attacking Western targets, and that their priority is focused on fighting the Syrian regime, Hezbollah, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Al-Julani is credited with saying that the "Nusra Front doesn’t have any plans or directives to target the West. We received clear orders from Ayman al-Zawahiri not to use Syria as a launching pad to attack the U.S. or Europe in order to not sabotage the true mission against the regime. Maybe Al-Qaeda does that but not here in Syria. Assad forces are fighting us on one end, Hezbollah on another and ISIL on a third front. It is all about their mutual interests".^[13]

When asked about al-Nusra's plans for a post-war Syria, al-Julani stated that after the war ended, all factions in the country would be consulted before anyone considered "establishing an Islamic state". He also mentioned that al-Nusra would not target the country's Alawite Muslim minority, despite their support for the Assad regime. "Our war is not a matter of revenge against the Alawites despite the fact that in Islam, they are considered to be heretics".^[13] A commentary on this interview however states that al-Julani also added that Alawites would be left alone as long as they abandon elements of their faith which contradict Islam.^[14]

On August 18, he received the support of Hamza bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden in a video message produced by the Al-Qaeda's network "Al-Sahab media".

In October 2015, al-Julani called for indiscriminate attacks on Alawite villages in Syria. He said, "There is no choice but to escalate the battle and to target Alawite towns and villages in Latakia".^[15]

Family

Al-Jolani has four brothers and two sisters; he was the fourth born in the family (in the middle). His father worked in the oil industry and published a number of books on economics. His mother was a geography teacher and has an MA.

References

External links

• Abu Muhammad al-Golani Counter Extremism Project profile