Islamist leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who led a lightning offensive through Syria, has a long history of extremism, despite a recent call for moderate policies.
“Golani is a specially designated global terrorist,” Bill Roggio, editor-in-chief of Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital. “He was a member of Al Qaeda… the US keeps him on the list for a reason.”
Roggio’s comments come after Islamist rebels led by Golani’s organization, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led an offensive across Syria that resulted in the capture of the country’s capital, Demascus, and the overthrow of Bashar Assad’s regime who fled the country. country Saturday when rebels entered the city.
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Abu Mohammed al-Golani inspects damage after an earthquake in the village of Besnaya in the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib, on the border with Turkey, on February 7, 2023. (Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images)
Golani was first drawn to jihadist thinking after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks across the US, according to a report from the Guardian.
He left Syria and joined Al Qaeda in IraqHe returned to his home country in 2011 during an uprising against the Assad regime and eventually joined al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri side in 2013.
Golani would cut ties with Al Qaeda in 2016 and in 2017 led a merger between HTS and other Islamist groups in northwestern Syria, gaining control of territory that had fallen from government hands during the country’s long civil war.
The U.S. State Department designated Geolani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in May 2013, citing his leadership in multiple terrorist attacks throughout Syria, often targeting civilians.
Fighters enter the Rashidin district on the outskirts of Aleppo on November 29, 2024. (Bakr Alkasem/AFP via Getty Images)
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But the terrorist leader has tried to take a more moderate tone in recent years, a trend that continued as the rebels began their full-scale offensive in Syria.
“No one has the right to exterminate another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them,” Golani said in an interview with CNN on Friday about Syria’s religious minority groups.
But Roggio said there is little evidence the moderate tone will continue if the rebels take control of Syria, arguing that Geloni is playing a good political game.
“He plays the moderate game very well, but he is a global jihadist. He is an expert in manipulation,” Roggio said.
Rebels in northwestern Syria seized regime military vehicles along the route to Kweris Airport in Aleppo’s eastern countryside on December 2, 2024. (Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via APRami Alsayed/NurPhoto via AP)
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While Roggio acknowledged that there is a legitimate justification for Syrians to cheer the fall of Assad, concern now turns to what comes next for the long-suffering population.
“It is understandable that many Syrians are ecstatic about the fall of Assad’s regime, he was a monster,” Roggio said. “But I think they’ll find that what replaces him won’t be much better.”
