Syrian militant leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has become the prominent figure in a rebel-led offensive that recently overthrew Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. This development has brought increased attention to al-Golani, a former al-Qaida affiliate who has been attempting to rebrand himself and his rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, away from their hardline Islamist roots.
Al-Golani, 42, was born to Syrian parents and spent much of his life in Damascus. He fought for al-Qaida in Iraq before reemerging in Syria at the onset of the civil war as the leader of the Nusra Front, an al-Qaida affiliate designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Despite initially aligning with former Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, al-Golani’s forces eventually clashed with the Islamic State after al-Baghdadi severed ties with al-Qaida and demanded other Islamist groups join ISIS.
In a 2014 interview with Al Jazeera, al-Golani dismissed international political efforts to resolve the civil war, stating his goal was to establish Islamic law in Syria without special concessions for minority groups such as Christians, Alawites, and Druze. In 2016, he announced that the Nusra Front would be renamed Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (Syria Conquest Front) and severed all ties with al-Qaida, emphasizing that his group’s focus was solely on Syria, unlike al-Qaida and ISIS, which had international ambitions.
As the Assad government regained control over most of its territory, al-Golani and his group consolidated power in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province. In 2018, they rebranded themselves as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, meaning Organization for Liberating Syria. Last year, the Associated Press reported on al-Golani’s efforts to present himself as a moderate, including dissolving the hardline religious police in Idlib, allowing church services, and stating that he would not impose Islamic law by force.
As his group’s offensive advanced through Syria, al-Golani has publicly assured minority groups of their protection.