Syria's President Sharaa AKA Jolani al-Qaeda Terrorist and Syria Update

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

As of Sunday, January 11, 2026, the main development in Syria is the withdrawal of Kurdish-led forces from key neighborhoods in Aleppo following days of intense fighting with government forces. Government forces would be the Syrians led by the former terrorist himself, Jolani AKA Ahmed al-Sharaa.  He was appointed to the transitional role on January 29, 2025, after serving as the de facto leader following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December 2024.  "Al-Jolani" was a pseudonym he adopted after joining al-Qaeda in Iraq in the early 2000s, with "al-Jolani" in Arabic meaning "of the Golan", referring to where his family originated. 

Al Qaeda terrorists have conducted numerous deadly attacks and engaged in a range of criminal and insurgent activities globally. The most significant event was the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, which involved hijacking four commercial airliners and crashing them into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people. 

In response to their activities, the United States launched military operations to topple the Taliban and expanded counterterrorism efforts worldwide, which ultimately led to the death of Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in 2011. 

Ansar al Din is a Malian armed group that hosts al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) much as the Taliban did in Afghanistan
  

• Founding and leading al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate: In 2011, al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sent al-Sharaa (Jolani) to Syria to establish a new organization, which became the Al-Nusra Front (Jabhat al-Nusra). Al-Nusra became al-Qaeda's official branch in Syria, with al-Sharaa as its emir.
• Organizing and leading military operations in Syria: As the leader of the Al-Nusra Front, he built a capable organization that secured its own donors, established control over territories, and conducted insurgent attacks and suicide bombings, aiming to overthrow the Assad regime and establish a state under their interpretation of Islamic law. with the goal of overthrowing the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and establishing an Islamic state following all Islamic rules.
  
  The United States’ killing of Ayman al-Zawahri, successor to Osama bin Laden as al-Qaida’s leader, marks the end of an era for the jihadi group. Any new leader will take over an organization with grand aspirations but weak capacity.  Ayman al-Zawahri, who led al-Qaida since Osama bin Laden’s death in 2011, is dead from a U.S. drone strike on a residential area in Kabul.
• Al-Qaeda Allegiance In April 2013, al-Nusra's leader formally pledged allegiance to then-al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The group was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States and blacklisted by the UN due to these ties.

Al-Sharaa later had a falling out with al-Baghdadi (who went on to lead ISIS) and eventually, in 2016, publicly severed ties with al-Qaeda to rebrand his group (first as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, then as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS). This split was a strategic move to focus on a local Syrian agenda and distance the group from al-Qaeda's transnational jihadist goals to gain local and potential international legitimacy. 

He is currently the interim president of Syria, having led the HTS offensive that toppled the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024. The U.S. had a $10 million bounty for information on him, though this has changed recently in light of new political developments. 

Key Updates

Aleppo Clashes End: Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)  Syrian Democratic Forces (a Kurdish-led military coalition) fighters have been evacuated from the contested Sheikh Maqsoud and Achrafieh neighborhoods in northern Aleppo. The move followed international mediation to secure a ceasefire and allow safe passage for civilians and the wounded.

• Government Control: Syrian government forces have taken control of the evacuated areas. First responders have entered the neighborhoods to clear rubble and dismantle mines and explosive devices reportedly left by the Kurdish forces.
• Casualties and Displacement: The five days of fighting resulted in at least 23 to 30 deaths and more than 140,000 people were displaced, according to various reports. The conflict was the most intense violence between the two sides since the fall of the Assad government in December 2024.
  

  This photo provided by the U.S. Air Force shows a U.S. Airman preparing an A-10 Thunderbolt II for flight from a base in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in support of Operation Hawkeye Strike.

  AP/U.S. Air Force via DVIDS
• US Airstrikes: The United States launched new retaliatory airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria as part of "Operation Hawkeye Strike" on January 10 and 11, in response to a deadly ambush that killed two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter in December 2025.   Operation Hawkeye Strike is an ongoing retaliatory military action by the United States against the Islamic State, following the December 2025 Palmyra attack by a Syrian police officer, suspected of being affiliated with the Islamic State, that killed two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter.   Jordan also conducted airstrikes on IS targets in the country.

The events in Aleppo occurred after negotiations to integrate the SDF into the national Syrian army failed. The UN Security Council is expected to hold meetings on the political and humanitarian situation in Syria this month. 

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Syria#:~:text=After%20the%20fall%20of%20the,capacity%20since%2029%20January%202025.