May 25, 2021 - They were attacking Americans in ... down American dedication or commitment. ... A car bomb exploded today at a mosque in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, killing scores of people. ... Jolani claims he was opposed to these tactics. It was hard to believe. One of Zarqawi’s core goals in Iraq was to attack civilians in order to ignite a sectarian civil war. ... [Speaking Arabic] We were against killing innocent ...

December 8, 2024 - In the coming years, Assad and ... the use of chemical weapons and the Russian-aided bombing of hospitals. As foreign actors poured fuel on the fire, the tactics of some opposition groups also grew more brutal. In his 2021 interview with Smith, Jolani claimed there was common ground between the U.S. and his group, which had been fighting against Assad, Assad’s ...

December 20, 2024 - Due to the successes that were ... Islamic State [of Iraq and Syria], or ISIS. However, Jolani rebuffed this because he knew that Baghdadi was trying to begin liquidating opposition activists with assassinations and going against other rebel groups....

June 2, 2021 - You'll receive access to exclusive information and early alerts about our documentaries and investigations.

To this end, al-Jolani has promoted a multi-pronged strategy. The first stage, which HTS claimed to have completed in August 2018, was the removal of “Iranian militias and the militants from the towns of Fu'a and Kafriya, who were a threat to the entire region and an incentive for sectarian mobilization, and which the regime exploits to achieve its goals.”[12] The second stage, which remains ongoing as of October 2018, is a campaign against ...

December 13, 2024 - Ahmed al-Sharaa, also called Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, is a militant Islamist and former al-Qaeda member whose group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), overthrew Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

January 3, 2020 - The vehicle that Castner inspected ... he told The Washington Post on Friday. ... The weapons, compact but potent, are deployed against armored vehicles in a way similar to traditional IEDs but are much deadlier and more effective, Castner said....

3 days ago - Before becoming the emir of al-Nusra Front, Abu Mohammad al-Julani started his military career in 2003, travelling from Damascus in Syria to Iraq, where he resisted the U.S. occupation of Iraq. He joined al-Qaeda in Iraq and fought in the Iraqi insurgency against the American occupation.

April 11, 2021 - Explosively formed penetrators — a particularly deadly form of roadside bomb — killed 196 American soldiers in Iraq over a five-and-a-half-year period, according to recently declassified Pentagon documents. That’s about half as many deaths as lawmakers have attributed to the bombs, which ...

December 9, 2024 - For over a year leading up to the ... Jolani faced protests in Idlib from hardline Islamists as well as Syrian activists. Critics compared his rule to Assad's, accusing HTS of authoritarianism, suppressing dissent and silencing critics. Protesters labelled HTS's security forces as "Shabbiha", a term used to describe Assad's loyalist henchmen. They further alleged that HTS deliberately avoided meaningful combat against government ...

1 day ago - Archived from the original on 2 February 2025. first known internationally by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani · Zeidan, Adam (2 February 2025). "Ahmed al-Sharaa". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 3 February 2025. Before replacing Assad as the de facto leader of Syria, Sharaa went by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani...

December 11, 2024 - Abu Mohammad al-Jolani addresses a crowd in Damascus' landmark Umayyad Mosque as the crowd chants "Allahu akbar (God is great)." Aref Tammawi / AFP - Getty Images · Born in Syria in 1982, he joined other foreign fighters in Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and was detained by the American ...

August 18, 2022 - Over most of two decades, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani’s life has been a roadmap of Islamist militancy in Iraq and Syria. He joined the fight against U.S. forces in Iraq and was jailed by the Americans. He became a commander within the group known as the Islamic State of Iraq.

Although some near-term waivers ... of HTS, Jolani, and others needs to be earned, not gifted. Now that an alliance of rebel factions led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) controls most of Syria, there is a “huge scramble” to determine whether and how the group and its top officials should be removed from U.S. and international terrorist lists. Under U.S. law, American officials ...

December 8, 2024 - A string of stunning victories has spurred White House worries about a “catastrophic success” in Syria if Islamist fighters gain control. But experts say the rebels have changed.

March 7, 2025 - The Department of National Intelligence ... interpretation of Islamic law.” · “HTS uses suicide attacks, guerilla tactics, and small-arms units to conduct attacks,” DNI states. Additionally, Jolani “called for retaliatory attacks against the US-led coalition in response ...

December 8, 2024 - Jolani said in an interview with PBS in 2021 that he fought for al-Qaeda in Iraq during the American occupation.

Abu Mohammed al Jolani, the nom de guerre of Ahmed Hussein al Shara, is the controversial HTS leader. He was born in 1982. After the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, he joined the insurgency against U.S. forces led by al Qaeda in neighboring Iraq. He returned to Syria after the uprising against ...