As commander of a rebel group allied with Al Qaeda during the long civil war of Syria, the man known by his nom du war, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, welcomed foreign jihadists, sent suicide bombers to explode military posts and sworn to create an Islamic State.
A decade ago, he told a journalist that Muslims should not enter Parliament to swear a constitution created by man because they had to respect “the rule of almighty God”.
The same commander became the new president of Syria after a rebellious alliance, he led the strong man Bashar al-Assad in December. He broke with Al Qaeda years ago and now he takes his real name, Ahmed al-Shara. He exchanged his military efforts with seeds and undertaken a charm offensive to convince foreign leaders and his Syrian companions who can repair his country in shattered and guide him towards democracy – or something like that.
“If democracy means that the people decide who will govern them and those who represent them in Parliament, then, yes, Syria is going in this direction,” he told the economist in an interview published this month.
The clear contrast between the Jihadist past of Al-Shara and his pragmatic and nationalistic gift has left Syrians and foreign officials who wondered what he actually believes and how he will govern a critical country in the heart of the Middle East.
Tuesday, his interim government is holding a national dialogue with hundreds of participants that the organizers affirm that he tries to build consent on the political and economic future of the nation. But some key groups, such as the Kurdish militia supported by the United States that controls the north-east of the country, have not been invited.
Many Syrians, exhausted after 13 years of civil war, say that whatever he does will be better than misery and destruction caused by Mr. Al-Assad. Syrian critics who challenge his Islamist approach accuse that beyond his conciliatory rhetoric there is a left past that has not clearly renounced.
Ever since it emerged as the new leader of Syria, high Arab and Western officials have visited him in Damascus or hosted him in their capital to press him on issues they care about, including the fight against Iranian influence, limiting the military presence of Russia , closing illegal drug exports, chatting down on violent jihadists and guaranteeing the rights of women and religious minorities.
Some of these officials said they were privately affected by the inclusive messaging of Mr. Al-Shara. But few have promised what it needs most: financial aid to strengthen the economy of Syria and the reconstruction of the beginning and the revocation of the harsh penalties imposed to punish al-Assad. Monday, the European Union has agreed to suspend restrictions on the sectors of Syrian banks and energy and transport, as well as to extend measures to facilitate humanitarian aid.
A factor that hinders foreign commitment with its government is that the United States and other countries, together with the United Nations, still classify the rebel group that has led, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS, as a terrorist organization. Some countries still classify it as a terrorist.
Barbara A. Leaf, a high officer of the State Department for the Middle East during the Biden administration, was among the first US officials to meet Mr. Al-Shara in Damascus, the Syrian capital, in December. In an interview he said he was clearly prepared to hear what the United States had to say and to answer.
“I found it a very methodical thinker with a strong degree of pragmatism,” said Mrs. Leaf.
He said it was not clear how much his jihadist background has still modeled his opinions as the leader of a country just liberated that desperately seeks international recognition and support.
“Either it is just a great actor or has a sort of spongy personality that assumes both the experience and the context that is modeling the wider environment and regulates his thoughts,” he said.
Al-Shara faces huge challenges. The war killed over 500,000 people, according to most estimates, he forced millions more to escape entire communities abroad and decimated, leaving many refugees without houses to return to.
His government is trying to create a national army to absorb the many militias of Syria, but some are resistant to the adhesion and control of significant territories and resources such as agricultural land and oil.
Many Syrians were widowed, orphans, mutilated or traumatized during the war and war monitors have reported murders of revenge across the country. To save what can of the state, Al-Shara invited public employees to continue working, but the salaries are scarce, the economy is weak and electricity is limited in many houses.
Even before he was appointed president last month during a meeting behind closed doors with allied rebellious leaders, Al-Shara was working at home and abroad to rename both Syria and himself.
He shot the Syrian provinces and met representatives of Christian minorities, Alawite and Druse. While Islamist in perspective, his government has not forbidden alcohol or imposed clothing codes to women.
During foreign trips, he reported his message and clothing of his guests. To meet the hereditary prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia, he wore a green tie; To meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Türkiye, he wore one red: the colors of their flags.
Many conservative Muslim men hold their wives out of the public point of view, but the spouse of Mr. Al-Shara, Latifa al-Droubi, appeared with him for the first time during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. During a subsequent trip to Türkiye, Mrs. Al-Droubi met Mr. Erdogan’s wife, Emine.
He spoke with the caution of Israel, who occupied a territory in southern Syria, asking it to adhere to a centuries-old truce along the shared frontier of countries and Russia, even if its military supported al-Assad and heavily bombed rebellious community . He lashed out against Iran, who also supported the first regime, but said Syria will not represent any threat to his neighbors.
His contact with the Trump administration seems to have been limited. But in a recent interview for the podcast “The rest is politics – leader”, he praised President Trump for his interest for the “Construction of Peace” and his “positive approach both to the Middle East and to the future politics of the United States in the region “.
The critics of Mr. Al-Shara accuse him of saying to anyone who is meeting what he wants to hear while he eliminates his extremist background and some of the violent registers of his associates.
One of the rebels who appointed him president, Ahmad Al-Hayes, was a commander accused by the United States of supervising the torture and killing of prisoners, the trafficking of women and children and redemptions and extortion patterns.
Another supporter, Mohammad Al-Jasim, is accused by the United States of Commanding Forces who dispatched the residents to seize their properties and kidnappers of people for the redemption, “probably generating tens of millions of dollars a year”.
In 2017, the Ribelle group of Al-Shara established a “government of salvation” to administer the territory that controlled in north-western Syria. After the fall of Mr. Al-Assad, Al-Shara brought that administration to Damascus to act as a provisional government of the country until March 1st, when a new government should take over. The elections cannot be detained for three or four years, he said, because Syria is so disorder.
The current government is composed of Al-Shara loyalists. Some members have been with him since his days Jihadists and the Minister of Health is his brother.
Many Syrians have been horrified by the videos shared on social media of the Minister of Justice, Shadi Al-Tatisi, who presides over the road executions in 2015 of two women for prostitution and “spread corruption on earth”.
The office of relations with the media of the new government did not respond to the comment request.
The extremists still influenced the government only a few months before it moved to Damascus.
Last August, hundreds of athletes gathered to kick off a local version of the Paralympic games in the north -western Syria and the organizers lit a giant torch. The ultra -care clerics accused the participants of adoring fire, a shame in Islam and the local government suspended the games, citing “transgressions” that “violate our culture, customs and traditions”.
Fuad Sayed Issa, the founder of Violet, the group that organized the games, said in an interview that the government’s officials had apologized for the cancellation, but that they were afraid of what the extremists would have done if they had gone on .
Mr. Issa was optimistic now that the government was in Damascus and Al-Shara was expressing more opening.
“Now let’s hear things are going better,” he said. “The leader has an open mentality and are taking Syria to a better place.”
The alliances of Mr. Al-Shara repeatedly change during the war. He came to Syria from Iraq with the support of the Islamic State, but later broke up with the group. He promised allegiance to Al Qaeda before also announced a break with it in 2016.
His original group, Nusra’s front, fought and ally with other rebels over the years and has renamed twice, becoming HTS in 2017. In the following years, Al-Shara focused on the country of the country of the country and He has reduced himself to extremists, he believes that he was planning attacks outside Syria.
ORWA AJJOUB, a candidate doctorate for the University of Malmo in Sweden who studies HTS, said that the history of Mr. Al-Shara suggested being guided less by rigid beliefs than by a search for power.
“It has changed a lot and is genuine in this change,” said Ajjoub. “On the one hand, there is a pragmatism that is encouraging and gives you some hope. But on the other, the lengths to which he is willing to go to power is scary. “