Ahmed al-Sharaa

Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa (born 1982), also known by his former nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani, is a Syrian politician and former rebel commander who has served as president of Syria since 2025. As emir of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) during the Syrian civil war, he led the opposition offensives that resulted in the fall of the Assad regime in 2024. Born in Riyadh to a Syrian family from the Golan Heights, he grew up in Damascus and joined al-Qaeda in Iraq shortly before the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.