His face embodies the fall of Bashar al-Assad. For almost 15 days, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of the Islamist group HTS, has become an essential leader in Syria. A “sudden” notoriety which propelled this former armed wing of Al-Qaeda to the rank of enemy number one of the deposed president.
Enough to activate the disinformation machine of social networks, fueled largely by pro-Russian accounts. Armed arm of Israel, falafel seller or simply dead… We take stock of the fake news surrounding Syria’s new strongman.
Dead or fried
The first rumor, which even predates the rebel coalition in Damascus, is that of the death of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. In a publication dating from November 30, an X account claims that the leader of HTS was killed “during a Russian airstrike”. Under the post, we discover the image of a dark-haired, bearded man, his nose bloody and covered in sand-colored dust, visibly lifeless. Information widely relayed on social networks but obviously false since it is a very living Abu Mohammed al-Jolani who will be seen giving a victory speech at the great Umayyad mosque in Damascus, days after the broadcast of this photo and in front of hundreds of witnesses.
On a lighter note, a recent post on X claims that Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is actually a falafel seller. Supporting photo, we can read with the post: “Mohammad al-Julani went from the status of falafel seller to that of leader of Syrian jihadists”. The visual which dates back to 2020 would actually be a photo of the HTS leader during a food aid tour in Idlib, the stronghold of the Islamic rebels in Syria.
A Mossad agent
Another popular misinformation about the HTS leader is his close ties to Israel. According to several accounts, al-Jolani, for example, wore military clothing made by the Israeli brand, “Emersongear”. Information denied by the brand itself on its blog since it is in this case a counterfeit uniform.
Still on Information relayed in particular by Jackson Hinkle, an American influencer who does not hide his support for Bashar al-Assad. In fact, it turns out that no filmed interview with the leader of HTS validates his remarks, which Hinkle himself is not able to source.
By clicking on“I accept”you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners.
More information on the Cookie management policy page
I accept
Better than a puppet of Israel, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is even of Jewish faith according to certain X accounts in recent days. His real name is Yonatan Zvi David and he recently converted to Islam to become the one we know. He would also be “a graduate of the School of Islamic Jurisprudence located in Tel Aviv” and nothing more and nothing less than an undercover Mossad agent. A conspiracy theory, obviously erroneous. Jolani’s real name being Ahmed al-Chareh. The latter grew up in Mazzé, a wealthy neighborhood in Damascus. Plus, it doesn’t really look like the Yonatan below.
The Misbar site, specializing in the fight against disinformation in the Middle East, recently published an article about this massive phenomenon of disinformation surrounding the leader of HTS. More than ten in just a few days according to the Jordanian media. And this is just the beginning.
