Abu Mohammad al-Julani

Abu Mohammad al-Julani (in Arabic أبو محمد الجولاني, also written as al-Joulani, al-Jolani, al-Jawlani and al-Golani) is the leader and emir of al-Nusra Front, which is called Jabhat al-Nusra in Arabic (Arabic: جبهة النصرة, full name, in Arabic: جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahli ash-Shām, "The Support Front for the People of Sham") and is sometimes called Tanzim Qa'edat Al-Jihad fi Bilad Al-Sham or Al-Qaeda in Syria. Al-Julani was listed by the US State Department as a “specially designated global terrorist” in May 2013.

Little is known about Abu Mohammad al-Julani, which is his nom de guerre. The phrase "Al-Julani" is a reference to Syria's Golan Heights, occupied by Israel during the war in 1967. His real name has never been revealed. Syrian state television reported in October 2013 that he was killed near Latakia, but SANA (the official Syrian news agency) soon withdrew its report. al-Julani released an audio statement on 28 September 2014, in which he stated he would fight the "United States and its allies" and urged his fighters not to accept help from the West in their battle against ISIS.

A Jordanian security official says only the top echelon in al-Qaeda know al-Julani’s real name, but he's commonly known to them as "Al Sheikh Al Fateh" (meaning the Conqueror Sheikh in Arabic).

Early life and Iraq War
Al-Julani is a native of Syria. He was reportedly a teacher of classical Arabic in Syria. He moved to Iraq to fight American troops and quickly rose through the ranks of al Qaeda, and reportedly was a close associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of the militant group al-Qaeda in Iraq. After al-Zarqawi was killed by a US airstrike in 2006, al-Julani left Iraq, briefly staying in Lebanon, where he offered logistical support for the Jund al-Sham militant group, which follows al-Qaeda's ideology. He returned to Iraq to continue fighting but was arrested by the US military and held at Camp Bucca on Iraq's southern border with Kuwait. At that camp, where the US military held tens of thousands of suspected militants, he taught classical Arabic to other prisoners.

After his release from Camp Bucca prison in 2008, al-Julani resumed his militant work, this time alongside Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq. He was soon appointed head of al-Qaeda operations in Mosul province officially known as Nineveh Province or Ninawa.

Syrian Civil War
Shortly after the Syrian uprising began against the Syrian administration headed by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, al-Julani moved into Syrian territory and, fully supported by al-Baghdadi, formed the al-Nusra Front which was first announced in January 2012. Julani was declared the "general emir" of Nusra Front. Under al-Julani’s leadership, Nusra grew into one of the most powerful rebel groups in Syria.

Al-Julani gained prominence in April 2013, when he rejected an attempted takeover of the al-Nusra Front by al-Baghdadi (which revealed a widening rift within al-Qaeda’s global network). Al-Julani distanced himself from claims that the two groups had merged into a group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as announced by al-Baghdadi. Instead, he pledged allegiance directly to al-Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, who was said to be against al-Baghdadi’s bid to merge both groups, and said his group will continue to use Jabhat al-Nusra as its name. al-Julani was quoted as saying "We inform you that neither the al-Nusra command nor its consultative council, nor its general manager were aware of this announcement. It reached them via the media and if the speech is authentic, we were not consulted." In June 2013, Al Jazeera English reported that it had obtained a letter written by al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, addressed to both Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Abu Mohammad al-Julani, in which he ruled against the merger of the two organizations and appointed an emissary to oversee relations between them and put an end to tensions. Later in the same month, an audio message from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was released in which he rejected al-Zawahiri's ruling and declared that the merger of the two organizations into the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was going ahead. Clashes have ensued between al-Nusra Front and ISIL for control of Syrian territory.

Despite some friction with members of the mainstream Free Syrian Army rebel umbrella group, al Julani's Jabhat al-Nusra often work together against Assad's troops in opposition-held areas. The group is more popular in Syria than ISIL, which is largely made up of foreign fighters and has been criticized for its brutality and for trying to impose a strict version of Islamic law in areas under its control. al-Nusra, by contrast, is made up mostly of Syrians, many of whom fought American forces in Iraq.