Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the coalition of anti-government forces that overthrew his regime Bashar al-Assad at Syriaspoke today (10.12.2024) to the television network “Sky News” and made it clear that the West has nothing to fear from the new Syrian government and the rebels.
The surprise attack by anti-regime troops that forced Bashar al-Assad to leave Syria on December 8, 2024 has caused confusion and suspicion in Westdue to the post-war situation in the country and the attitude that the rebels will take.
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani wanted to comment on this very uncertainty and concern, saying characteristically that “the countries of the West have no reason to fear us, these fears are unnecessary”, as reports Sky News.
He then added that Syria will be rebuilt from scratch and it will move towards growth, reconstruction and stabilitysince the fear caused by the Assad regime has now gone.” Still, al-Jolani emphasized that the Syrian people are exhausted by the war and the country is neither ready nor about to enter a new conflict.
REUTERS/Mahmoud Hasano/File Photo
His “dirty” past
The leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which previously had connections both with al Kaeda as well as the Islamic Statealso said that: “The Syrian people feared the Iranian militias, Hezbollah and the Assad regime who were committing massacres. Their removal was the solution for stability in the country and we will not let panic return.”
THE Abu Mohammad al-Jolani has renounced his past as a jihadist and declares that she now embraces him political and social pluralism. He still remains on the US terrorist list, despite the fact that in recent years he has distanced himself from al-Qaeda and ISIS.
For this reason, moreover, several Western countries are considering whether to remove him from the terrorist listafter the rapid developments in Syria and his emergence as a new leading political figure.