A brutal dictatorship – al-Assad of Syria – fell in the dark of night. A new dictatorship – a renewed Syria with new jihadists began ruling the very next day.
After al-Assad fled the hornet’s nest over which he ruled, a new Islamic entity was born. This entity is not yet fully formed and will have some bumps on the way. Therefore, it should be forbidden to support it. It would be better to starve it.
The Islamist militant group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, are the rebels who took over Syria from the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Al-Jolani rose to prominence as founder and emir of the Al-Nusra Front, a Syrian affiliate of Al-Qaeda. Under his leadership the Al-Nusra Front built a stronghold in Syria’s northwestern Idlib Governorate. In December 2012, the US added Al-Nusra Front to the terrorist watchlist.
Al-Jolani put himself forward as the figurehead of a post-al-Assad future in Syria.
Most of the Middle East and the rest of the enlightened Western world leaders do not understand the devastating implications of the new developments in Syria, led by the fighters of al-Sham.
Al-Sham are the new generation of dangerous jihadists. These new jihadists appear to be more sophisticated than any terrorist group seen or known before. They have the patience for the long term and are not in a hurry to attack their enemies; their new strategy is to build infrastructure, institutions, and gain global recognition in order to establish a jihadist nation, the likes of which we have not yet seen.
These jihadists have also learned from their and other jihadists’ previous mistakes. They understand very well that the old jihadist generation failed to achieve their jihadist goals, due to their inability to destroy the West and the fact that they were constantly pursued by Western intelligence agencies.
Today they avoid the mistakes of their masters, al-Zawahiri and Abdullah Azzam. Their strategy is to create a suitable climate that will lead to the establishment of a jihadist state under the nose of the West, which they have seduced by their behavior, ostensibly as a state.
Old Jihadists
Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of the Salafi jihadist group al-Qaeda, one of the planners of the September 11 attacks against the United States, was killed by a United States drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan. He succeeded Osama bin Laden as leader of al-Qaeda after bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan on May 2, 2011.
“The Jihad in Afghanistan will broaden until the entire world will be conquered because Allah has promised the victory to Islam,” ~ Abdullah Azzam
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam was an Islamist jihadist and theologian of the Salafi movement within Sunni Islam. After the 1967 Six Day War he and his family fled to Jordan from Judea and Samaria AKA “West Bank.” At that time, Judea and Samaria were illegally occupied by Jordan. Azzam pursued higher education in Jordan and Egypt before relocating to Saudi Arabia. In 1979 he issued a fatwa* advocating for “defensive jihad” in light of the outbreak of the Soviet-Afghan War, and subsequently he moved to Pakistan to support the Afghan mujahideen
*Fatwa in Islam is a formal ruling or interpretation on a point of Islamic law given by a qualified legal scholar.
The United States and its allies should refrain from recognizing or legitimizing the new rulers of Damascus, no matter how sophisticated and long-winded they may be in their attempts to manipulate the international community by appointing moderate government figures.
New Jihadists
Although it may seem premature and perhaps even contrary to current international practice, the rebel leaders, and especially al-Jolani, must not be allowed to gain the support and sympathy of an enlightened but desperate western society seeking a change, even if it is a superficial one. The new jihadist leadership is trying to emerge and gain legitimacy. To credit or reward these dangerous jihadists for overthrowing al-Assad, Syria’s brutal dictator, would be a mistake with far-reaching and ruthless consequences.
Al-Jolani and his rebels may have played an important role in overthrowing the al-Assad house, but they are not the real force that brought about his downfall.
Israel opened the opportunity to topple al-Assad’s house. By Israel destroying Hamas; and then taking out the leadership of Hezbollah, to the very last one, weakening its fighting capabilities and cutting off Hezbollah’s weapons delivery sources; by Israel paralyzing Iran’s proxies in the region, which weakens Iran, unintentionally Israel gave the rebels, who trained and equipped over the years, the green light to finish the task of toppling the al-Assad region they started years ago.
Al-Jolani has the leadership potential to create a powerful jihadist terrorist state, on the blood-soaked soil of Syria’s citizens under the ruthless rule of the tyrannical Assad family. This will be a terrorist state, the likes of which the world has never seen before.
Al-Jolani will build this state slowly, thoughtfully, and patiently. He has the patience the West lacks. This global terrorist has not moved from the jihadist stage to the statesman stage; he has transformed himself from a simple jihadist into a modern jihadist Islamist caliph. And this fabricated title will allow him to flourish and rub shoulders with Western rulers, and the consequences for all of humanity may very well be fatal.
Western countries, you have been warned.
