Syria: Who is Golani? The pragmatic rebel who led downing of Assad regime

Abu Mohammed Al Golani is the leader of the alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down President Bashar Al Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria.

Golani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria's branch of Al Qaeda.

He is an extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals.

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On Sunday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions.

He had earlier this week said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to overthrow Assad.

Thirteen years after Assad cracked down on a nascent democracy movement, sparking Syria's civil war, the rebels said the president had fled the country and declared Damascus free of the "tyrant".

Golani had for years operated from the shadows.

From shadows to spotlight

Now, he is in the spotlight, giving interviews to the international media and delivering statements that have Syrians all around the world glued to their phones for clues of what the future might hold.

Earlier in the offensive, which began on November 27, he appeared in Syria's second city Aleppo after wresting it from government control for the first time in the war.

He has over the years stopped sporting the turban worn by extremists, often favouring military fatigues instead.

On Wednesday, he wore a khaki shirt and trousers to visit Aleppo's citadel, standing at the door of his white vehicle as he waved and moved through the crowds.

Since breaking ties with Al Qaeda in 2016, Golani has sought to portray himself as a more moderate leader.

But he is yet to quell suspicions among analysts and Western governments that still class HTS as a terrorist organisation.

"He is a pragmatic radical," Thomas Pierret, a specialist in political Islam, said.

"In 2014, he was at the height of his radicalism," Pierret said, referring to the period of the war when he sought to compete with the jihadist Islamic State group.

"Since then, he has moderated his rhetoric."

Ahmed Al Sharaa

Born in 1982, Golani was raised in Mazzeh, an upscale district of Damascus.

He stems from a well-to-do family and was a good student.

During the offensive, he started signing his statements under his real name -- Ahmed Al Sharaa.

In 2021, he told US broadcaster PBS that his nom de guerre was a reference to his family roots in the Golan Heights, claiming that his grandfather had been forced to flee after Israel's annexation of the area in 1967.

According to the Middle East Eye news website, it was after the September 11, 2001 attacks that Golani was first drawn to extremists' thinking.

Following the US-led invasion of Iraq, he left Syria to take part in the fight.

He joined Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, and was subsequently detained for five years, preventing him from rising through the ranks of the organisation.

In March 2011, when the revolt against Assad's rule erupted in Syria, he returned home and founded the Al Nusra Front, Syria's branch of Al-Qaeda.

In 2013, he refused to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, who would go on to become the emir of Daesh, and instead pledged his loyalty to Al-Qaeda's Ayman Al Zawahiri.

Facing accusations