Syrian rebel leader Abu Muhammad al-Jolani there was a first interview last night (Thursday) since the renewed shower of fighting against the Assad regime. Al-Jolani, who grew up in Al-Qaeda and leads the organization “Jabhat al-Nusra” defined in the United States as a terrorist organization, tried in an interview with the CNN network to “rebrand” the organization’s reputation.
CNN noted that Al-Jolani, who recently uses his official name Ahmed Al-Shara presents a completely different appearance than the one he presented in his last interview with the channel in 2013, when he refused to reveal his face. He is now being interviewed openly and in broad daylight, as part of his efforts to legitimize the organization.
Al-Jolani, now in his 40s, referred to his past in the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization, saying: “A 20-year-old person has a different character than a 30, 40 or 50-year-old. This is human nature.” He later distanced himself from “violent tactics of other factions”, and claimed that he himself had never taken part in an attack on civilians. “We went out of our way to make it clear to Christians and other minorities in the country that they will not be subject to persecution,” he said.
“The seeds of the regime’s defeat were always within him. The attempts of Iran, and then Russia, to push back the fighting did buy Assad time, but that does not change the facts – the Assad regime is dead,” he added. “We want the foreign forces to leave Syria, and I believe that once the regime falls, the problem will resolve itself.”
“Syrians deserve a government with functioning governing institutions, and not a single ruler who makes arbitrary decisions. This is a big project – rebuilding Syria. Our organization is only one party in this dialogue, and it may disband as soon as it achieves its goal – the overthrow of Assad’s rule.”