ALWAGHT- The US welcoming Abu Mohammad al-Jolani—who was targeted with a $10 million bounty for his capture just a few years ago—has raised international eyebrows.
Just a year ago, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in Syria, was a wanted terrorist with a $10 million US bounty due to his ties to al-Qaeda and past activities with Jabhat al-Nusra. Any attempt to travel to New York at that time would have risked his arrest.
Today, Jolani is in the US attending the United Nations General Assembly, a move that has sparked widespread surprise on social media. Users highlighted the stark contrast between his past as a most-wanted terrorist and his current reception in the US, describing it as a striking paradox.
Jolani’s rise in Syria involved close coordination with ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the formation of Jabhat al-Nusra, aimed at overthrowing Bashar al-Assad. He amassed thousands of fighters, rejected ISIS’s merger, pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, and was subsequently sanctioned by the US and the UN as an international terrorist.
After the fall of Assad’s government and Jolani’s consolidation of power in Syria, the US revoked the bounty on him. His presence in New York to address the UN has drawn scrutiny and raised questions about how a former $10 million most-wanted terrorist is now formally welcomed on the international stage.
