Syrian rebel leader claims group wants to end Assad regime, see foreign forces withdraw - interview

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the rebel leader of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), claimed that the group’s ultimate goal was to end the authoritarian regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, he told CNN in an exclusive interview published on Friday. 

Jolani told CNN that his group sought a new governance for the Syrian people in which the people choose a “council.”

“When we talk about objectives, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. It is our right to use all available means to achieve that goal,” said Jolani. “The seeds of the regime’s defeat have always been within it… the Iranians attempted to revive the regime, buying it time, and later the Russians also tried to prop it up. But the truth remains: this regime is dead.”

The terror roots of HTS

Despite now claiming to seek a new government based on democratic rule, HTS established itself first as an ally of Islamist terror group Al-Qaeda. In 2018, the United States designated HTS as a foreign terrorist group and there is currently a $10 million bounty on Jabadi.

CNN stressed that in meeting with Jabadi, he had little security surrounding him despite the bounty. He has also made several appearances in rebel-controlled cities and CNN described him as acting more like a politician than a wanted terrorist.

Jolani explained that he and HTS had been transformed by age. “A person in their twenties will have a different personality than someone in their thirties or forties, and certainly someone in their fifties. This is human nature,” he told the American news site. 

Jolani's background

In his youth, Jolani fought alongside al Qaeda against American troops in Iraq and later went on to rule its Syrian affiliate under the name Jabhat Al Nusra. It wasn’t until 2017 that he broke ties with Al Qaeda and developed HTS.

Jolani denied ever being involved in attacks on civilians and claimed he opposed the tactics employed by Islamist groups - which is what led him to sever ties with them.

Despite now breaking ties with Al Qaeda and verbalizing goals for Syria, which some may classify as progressive, the US, Turkey, the United Nations, and many other nations continue to categorize HTS as a terror group.

Jolani stressed to the interviewer that civilians in rebel-controlled areas had no reason to stress.  “People who fear Islamic governance either have seen incorrect implementations of it or do not understand it properly,” he claimed, adding the group had made efforts to reassure Christians and religious minorities that their lives would be safe under the rebel’s rule.

“There were some violations against them [minorities] by certain individuals during periods of chaos, but we addressed these issues,” Jolani said. “No one has the right to erase another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them.”

Despite his claims, CNN noted that alarms were raised by human rights groups over the treatment of political dissidents in rebel-controlled jails - alleging that dissidents were not allowed to protest and were tortured and abused in custody. 

Jolani did not deny reports of torture, instead telling the site that the abuse in prisons “were not done under our orders or directions” and those responsible were already held accountable. 

The rebel leader concluded the interview by expressing hope that once the Assad regime falls, foreign parties will withdraw from Syria.

“I think that once this regime falls, the issue will be resolved, and there will no longer be a need for any foreign forces to remain in Syria,” he said. “Syria deserves a governing system that is institutional, not one where a single ruler makes arbitrary decisions.”

“We are talking about a larger project – we are talking about building Syria,” Jolani continued. “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is merely one part of this dialogue, and it may dissolve at any time. It is not an end in itself but a means to perform a task: confronting this regime.”