Will the real Mr. Jolani stand up?
By James M. Dorsey
Hi and welcome. if you appreciate this type of content, consider upgrading to a paid subscription, to help ensure that independent journalism and analysis survive. Without your support this kind of hard-hitting, fact-based analysis would not be possible.
Subscribing will allow you to listen to the podcast, and/ or watch the video. To subscribe, please click here.
Thank you for your support and loyalty.
Ahmed al Shara, aka Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, would like you to think he is a changed man.
These days, Mr. Al-Jolani, a 41-year-old one-time Al Qaeda and Islamic State operative with a $10 million US bounty on his head, no longer spews jihadist fire and brimstone.
Instead, he preaches pluralism, religious tolerance, diversity, and forgiveness as his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebels take control of Damascus, the Syrian capital.
With the departure to Moscow of toppled President Bashar al-Assad, ending the Assad family’s 54-year hold on Syria, many in the country and the international community ask which one is the real Mr. Al-Jolani.
In a recent interview, Mr. Al-Jolani, the face of the Syrian rebels, insisted that his evolution was natural, “A person in their twenties will have a different…
