Views: 21
Syria’s New Leader Vows to Take Jerusalem After Damascus.
Abu Mohammad al-Julani, the wanted terrorist and de facto leader of Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad, declared in 2018 that his Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) organization—a rebrand of al-Qaeda franchise al-Nusra—intended to take not only Damascus but the Israeli capital of Jerusalem.
In a video released as Assad’s forces had gained the upper hand over the various rebel factions, al-Julani told his followers, “There is no significance to the defeat of one village to another. Our goals are much loftier than that… It is a war of ideas, a war of minds, a war of will, a war of steadfastness.”
“We must use everything that we have to protect the Sunnis,” he said—a bad signal for the Alawite minority from which Assad hailed, as well as Syrian Christians, Druze, and other minorities, now al-Julani has taken power.
“Allah willing, we will reach not only Damascus. Jerusalem awaits us as well. Every bullet we fire here will reverberate throughout the Islamic world. Your place as a Jihad fighter on this blessed land is in itself a grace of Allah, Who chose you from among billions of people.”
Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has taken credit for Assad’s ouster by al-Julani and appears satisfied that it is a positive development, having eliminated a regional rival in Assad and weakened his erstwhile allies in Hezbollah and Iran.
However, with the “al-Julani” name being a nom de guerre referencing the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, plus al-Julani’s past remarks on Jerusalem, the Israelis may find the Turkey-backed jihadists prove to be a greater threat than Assad.
