Syrian Rebel Leader Still Has $10 Million U.S. Bounty on His Head
Ahmad al-Sharaa, known as Muhammad al-Jawlani or Abu Muhammad al-Golani, the leader of the Syrian rebels who ousted Bashar al-Assad and have taken over the country, still has a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head as a wanted terrorist.
A U.S. State Department website, “Rewards for Justice,” says:
Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Muhammad al-Jawlani, also known as Abu Muhammad al-Golani and Muhammad al-Julani. Al-Jawlani leads the al-Nusrah Front (ANF), al-Qa’ida’s (AQ) affiliate in Syria. In January 2017, ANF merged with several other hardline opposition groups to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). While al-Jawlani is not the leader of HTS, he remains the leader of AQ-affiliated ANF, which is at the core of HTS.
Under al-Jawlani’s leadership, ANF has carried out multiple terrorist attacks throughout Syria, often targeting civilians. In April 2015, ANF reportedly kidnapped, and later released, approximately 300 Kurdish civilians from a checkpoint in Syria. In June 2015, ANF claimed responsibility for the massacre of 20 residents in the Druze village of Qalb Lawzeh in Idlib province, Syria.
In April 2013, al-Jawlani pledged allegiance to AQ and its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. In July 2016, al-Jawlani praised AQ and al-Zawahiri in an online video and claimed the ANF was changing its name to Jabhat Fath Al Sham (“Conquest of the Levant Front”).
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