[PBS]
“Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, a former leader of an Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, is one of the most wanted men in the world. The United States designated him a terrorist in 2013, with a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.”
“He’s also the leader of the dominant force in Syria’s Idlib province, which after more than 10 years of conflict is the last remaining opposition stronghold to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.”
“With his Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Jolani helped establish a civic authority that governs more than 3 million civilians in Idlib, many of them displaced from other areas of Syria. He claims there’s common ground between the U.S. and his group, which has been fighting Assad, Assad’s Russian and Iranian allies, ISIS and Jolani’s own former allies in Al Qaeda. He says he is seeking a new relationship with the West.”
“In a new documentary, The Jihadist, veteran FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith travels to Idlib to investigate whether Jolani can be trusted, becoming the first Western journalist to interview him. Smith also tracked down and interviewed Jolani’s critics and victims.”
“In the clip, Smith lays out the stakes: Jolani’s 10,000-plus man army, effectively backed by neighboring Turkey, is preventing Idlib from falling to the Assad regime and its allies, which have committed large-scale human rights abuses. A regime victory in Idlib could potentially spark further humanitarian crises there and an increase in migrants moving farther north.”
““There is torture, and it’s brutal torture, and there are barbaric methods being used by these terrorists,” Mohamed Al Salloum, whose brother Samer was imprisoned and executed after criticizing Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on social media, told Smith”.
“But Smith also found that some U.S. experts and veteran diplomats in the region credit Jolani with establishing a semblance of stability in Idlib province and acting as a buffer against forces hostile to the United States. James Jeffrey, a top diplomat in the region during the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations, thinks it may be wise to work with Jolani.”
““Look, he’s the least bad option of the various options on Idlib, which is one of the most important places in Syria, which is one of the most important places right now in the Middle East,” Jeffrey told Smith in the above excerpt.”
“On whether it might make sense to work with Jolani, others disagree.”
“Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, whose research focuses on jihadi groups in North Africa and Syria […] believes that giving Jolani a chance would equal “letting him and the organization off the hook.””
Read more: The Designated Terrorist and the Fight Over the Future of Syria’s Last Opposition Stronghold
Related: Up to $10 Million Reward for Muhammad Al-Jawlani (pdf)
2021-week23
