From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
Syrian rebel leader appears in public for first time since launch of anti-regime offensive
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleGianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
The leader of the Syrian jihadi rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) appears in public for the first time since the launch of the HTS-led offensive against the Syrian regime one week ago.
On Sunday, unverified reports in Arab media had claimed that Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a, known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani, had been killed in a Russian airstrike.
Videos circulating today on Arab social media and news channels, including on Al Jazeera, show Al Julani making his way through a cheering crowd in Aleppo.
Al-Julani is wanted by the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, with a $10 million bounty on his head.
HTS, a former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda once known as the Nusra Front, is designated a terrorist group by the US, Russia, Turkey and other states. The shock uprising led by the group has made rapid inroads in northwestern Syria, taking control of the Idlib province and Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, and gradually approaching the city of Hama.
قائد هيئة تحرير الشام "أبو محمد الجولاني" يزور مدينة #حلب بعد سيطرة فصائل المعارضة عليها ضمن عملية #ردع_العدوان#فيديو pic.twitter.com/IjN6Il1QqX
— الجزيرة سوريا (@AJA_Syria) December 4, 2024
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