Our goal is to ‘overthrow’ Assad regime, says Syrian rebel leader

The goal of Syria’s rebel coalition, as it wrests another major city from government control this week, is ultimately to overthrow authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad, according to Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the militant leader of the main group driving the country’s armed opposition.

In an exclusive interview with CNN, Jolani left no doubt that the ambitions of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) – a group that was formed out of a former al Qaeda affiliate – are nothing less than bringing an end to the Assad regime. In his first sit-down media interview in years, at an undisclosed location in Syria, he spoke about plans to create a government based on institutions and a “council chosen by the people.”

“When we talk about objectives, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. It is our right to use all available means to achieve that goal,” said Jolani.

“The seeds of the regime’s defeat have always been within it… the Iranians attempted to revive the regime, buying it time, and later the Russians also tried to prop it up. But the truth remains: this regime is dead.”

Since bursting out of their pocket of territory in the northwest of the country more than a week ago, the rebels’ progress has been stunningly swift, taking control of the country’s second-largest city Aleppo before capturing the strategic city of Hama. The shock offensive delivered a huge blow to Assad and his backers in Iran and Russia, while reigniting a civil war that had been largely dormant for years.

Syria’s opposition forces are decentralized and made up of different ideologies, albeit united by a common goal of upending the Assad regime. But HTS and Jolani’s roots in extremist Islamist movements cast a shadow over his ambitions.

Despite Jolani’s effort to distance his new group from al Qaeda, the United States designated HTS a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2018 and placed a $10 million bounty on him.

For someone who once operated in the shadows, Jolani exuded confidence and tried to project modernity in his meeting with CNN, which took place in broad daylight and with little security. As CNN sat down to interview Jolani, news broke that forces under his command had captured the city of Hama.

Inside rebel-controlled territory in Syria, it’s clear he operates less like a wanted man and more like a politician. After forces loyal to him took control of Aleppo, he made a public appearance in the city’s historic citadel.

Jolani says he has gone through episodes of transformation through the years. “A person in their twenties will have a different personality than someone in their thirties or forties, and certainly someone in their fifties. This is human nature.”

Jolani cut his teeth as a young fighter for al Qaeda against the US in Iraq. Returning to his homeland during the Syrian civil war, he led the terror group’s affiliate in Syria when it was under the name Jabhat Al Nusra. He would go on to break ties with al Qaeda and his organization evolved into Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, also known as the Organization for the Liberation of the Levant, in early 2017.