Julani retreats, justifies withdrawing his rows from north Syria

By: Mostafa Amin

Abu Muhammad al-Julani, commander-in-chief of the Syrian militant group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and leader of Al-Nusra Front, is moving towards a reconciliation bid with all parties in Syria.

The bid appears as an obvious retreat by Julani from his previous clashes with the Syrian regime and a justification for ordering the withdrawal of his rows from Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province.

He stressed that the HTS did not sign any agreement to hand over control of territories within the Hejaz Railway, which marks off east Idlib.

In 2016, Al-Nusra Front declared its disintegration from al-Qaeda as he thanked the “commanders of al-Qaeda for having understood the need to break ties”.

In his speech “Their guile will never harm you,” Julani said, “the HTS is ready to settle all internal matters, away from foreign agendas and projects, seeking the interest of Syria.”

“This starts with holding reconciliation meetings and implementing agreements and commitments,” he added.

Al-Nusra Front leader said attempts by the regime to gain control over east of the Hejaz Railway are part of what was agreed upon during the diplomatic talks in Astana.

He said the ongoing fights and bombing over the area “are not deemed a violation,” but an implementation to the de-escalation zones plan.

The de-escalation zones plan, signed in May 2017 by government backers Iran and Russia, and rebel ally Turkey in the Kazakh capital, Astana, aims at reducing violence in Syria.

Julani also clarified that the HTS informed the Turkish side and all the factions that were trying to convince the HTS to peacefully withdraw from east of the railway of its refusal to acknowledge the partition agreement that was signed in Astana.

He announced the HTS’ complete refusal of the Astana talks and its outcomes; he also said that according to the Astana outcomes, the regime has the right to commit all of its killing and bombing east of the railway, as long as it does not breach the de-escalation agreement.

“Days passed and all who attended the talks were content with a paper that stipulated the division of the north into areas of Turkish and Russian influences, while excluding east of the railway from the de-escalation zones map,” Julani said in his speech.

“This gives the right to the regime and its allies the right to raid it and seize control over it by any means, because according to Astana, it is their right, while faction fighting there are not allowed to fight and defend,” he added.

On Jan. 7, 2018, the HTS published photos of Julani that were said to be during an “urgent meeting to discuss developments in Idlib”.

In the photos, Julani appears with a set of officials at a military council meeting to address the latest field developments in Idlib.

Syrian Arab Army defenses in southeast Idlib managed to reach the strategic crossroad town of Sinjar, about 16km away from Siege of Abu al-Duhur Airbase, as it has been carrying out blitz assault against opposition militias.

The HTS, however, did not announce the outcomes or the date of the meeting.

This is considered Julani’s send appearance since his participation at the Hama battles in Oct. 18, 2017, when he denied his injury that was announced by the Russian Defense Minister.

Julani became leader of the HTS in Sep. 2017 as its former leader, Abu Jaber al-Sheikh, announced his resignation.

The resignations coincided with tension that resulted a series of disintegrations and resignations by some influential figures in it, including Saudi Islamic cleric Abdullah al-Muhaysini.

Over the past years, Julani made appearances leading many battles such as the battle to lift the siege on neighborhoods of eastern Aleppo in late 2016, followed by the large-scale offensive in northern Hama on Mar. 24, 2017.

“Joulani eliminated 20 armed factions and now he wants reconciliation!” HTS leading figure Al-Farouk Abu Bakr said about Joulani’s reconciliation bid. “Your religious spiel will only deceive fools and young people.”

It seems that Julani is starting to retreat from his previous stands against the Syrian regime; the matter that might turns a clean slate with all parties, or maybe ignites a new clash.