From $10 Million Bounty to the Oval Office: The Record Behind Julani’s Rebrand

How did Abu Muhammad al-Julani go from a U.S.-designated al-Qaida leader to Syria’s president, and what does the record show about the years in between?

Abu Muhammad al-Julani founded the Nusra Front, pledged allegiance to al-Qaida in 2013, and carried a $10 million U.S. bounty from 2017. In 2025, as President Ahmed al-Sharaa, he was taken off U.S. and UN terrorist lists and welcomed at the White House. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) records released to OctoProbe under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that U.S.-made TOW anti-tank missiles came to dominate missile firings by Syria’s rebel groups in the same years, and that the DIA logged a Nusra Front claim to have captured them. OctoProbe also geolocated al-Julani’s Idlib appearances from 2023 and 2024 and traced five of the photos to their first posts. Human rights reports document killings, torture, and detentions by his group throughout.

Other DIA files published here cover Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Separate reporting covers CENTCOM’s war orders and how ISIS media has survived takedowns.

How Did a Wanted Terrorist Become a President?

The State Department first named al-Julani in December 2012, when it added the Nusra Front to the terrorist listing of al-Qaida in Iraq. The department said the Iraqi group’s leader “tasked him to begin operations in Syria.”

On May 16, 2013, the department designated al-Julani himself a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. “Al-Jawlani was specifically tasked by al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI) to carry out these objectives,” it said, adding that “recently al-Jawlani publicly pledged allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qa’ida’s leader.”

Four years later, the department put a price on him. The Rewards for Justice program “is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of Muhammad al-Jawlani,” a May 10, 2017, media note said. It recorded his first rename: “In July 2016, in a video posted online, al-Jawlani praised al-Qaida. and al-Zawahiri and claimed the ANF was changing its name to Jabhat Fath Al Sham.” The note blamed his group for “the massacre of 20 residents in the Druze village Qalb Lawzeh in Idlib province” in June 2015.

The rebrands kept coming. In January 2017, the Nusra Front merged with other factions to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. On May 31, 2018, the State Department added HTS to Nusra’s terrorist designations. Ambassador Nathan Sales, the counterterrorism coordinator, said the action “serves notice that the United States is not fooled by this al-Qa’ida affiliate’s attempt to rebrand itself.” “Whatever name Nusrah chooses, we will continue to deny it the resources it seeks to further its violent cause,” he said.

By 2021, al-Julani was making his case to Western audiences. “We haven’t posed any threat to Western or European society,” he told PBS Frontline. The program described his “efforts — despite his history with Al Qaeda and allegations of human rights abuses — to change his image.” Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute told Frontline that giving him a chance would equal “letting him and the organization off the hook.”

Then the Assad regime fell. HTS-led forces took Damascus on December 8, 2024. Twelve days later, a U.S. delegation met al-Sharaa there. “I told him we would not be pursuing the Rewards for Justice reward offer that has been in effect for some years,” Barbara Leaf, the State Department’s top Middle East diplomat, said, according to CNN and the AP. On January 29, 2025, he was named president for a transitional period, Reuters reported, citing Syria’s state news agency.

Washington then took apart the sanctions. On June 30, 2025, the Treasury Department, whose Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) runs U.S. sanctions lists, said that with a new executive order, “OFAC removed 518 individuals and entities from the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons” under the Syria program. On July 7, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote, “In line with President Trump’s May 13 promise to deliver sanctions relief to Syria, I am announcing my intent to revoke the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).” The revocation took effect July 8. The department said it “follows the announced dissolution of HTS and the Syrian government’s commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms.”

The UN followed. On November 6, 2025, the Security Council adopted Resolution 2799, which “Decides that Ahmed al-Sharaa, included on the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List as Ahmad Hussain Al-Sharaa (QDi.317), and Anas Hasan Khattab (QDi.336) are delisted.” The next day, the State Department said “the Secretary is delisting Syrian President al-Sharaa–who is listed under the name Muhammad al-Jawlani—as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.” The Treasury removal notice still listed his old names: “AL-JAWLANI, Abu Muhammad (a.k.a. AL-GOLANI, Abu Muhammad; a.k.a. "AL-FATIH").”

On November 10, 2025, President Donald Trump hosted al-Sharaa at the White House, “welcoming the once-pariah state into a U.S.-led global coalition to fight the Islamic State group,” the AP reported. On December 18, 2025, the defense authorization law repealed the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, the toughest remaining U.S. sanctions law on Syria.

What Did the DIA Document About American TOW Missiles?

The DIA records were released to OctoProbe under FOIA (DIA case FOIA-00321-2023). The core is a May 28, 2015, DIA assessment titled “(U) Syria/Iraq: Emerging Anti Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) Threat.” An anti-tank guided missile is a shoulder- or tripod-fired rocket steered onto armored vehicles; the DIA calls them ATGMs. The release also holds a September 22, 2015, follow-up that compares two summers of firings.

“There has been a major increase in the usage of Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) systems by regime forces, opposition groups, and terrorist organizations in Syria since March 2012,” the assessment begins. It says its findings are “based on the all source analysis of non-state use of ATGMs in the Syrian conflict, over a three-year period from March 2012 to February 2015.”

The DIA built its count from the groups’ own propaganda. Analysts reviewed “over 900 videos of non-state ATGM firings in social media from Syria.” The agency warned that the groups “are likely to target U.S. interests including personnel, equipment, and infrastructure,” and that “Extremist capture of ATGMs in Northern Syria also increases the risk of cross border deployment of ATGMs into Iraq.”

“The top 3 ATGM systems in use in Syria are the Russian Konkurs, Chinese Red Arrow 8 and the U.S. TOW,” the DIA wrote. Usage rose “by 183% from 2013 to 2014, and 114% between 2014 and February 2015.” Across January 2012 through February 2015, the TOW accounted for 30% of the firings in the DIA’s Figure 13, behind the Konkurs at 35%.

By September 2015, the American missile had taken over. “According to the analysis of open source videos, the U.S. TOW 2A has become the dominant system used by non-state groups in Syria, which we assess is due to its higher availability and proven performance,” the follow-up said. The TOW 2A was “representing 72% of Syrian conflict related ATGM firings in the open source.” The DIA’s charts put the TOW at 20% of firings in April through June 2014 and 71.93% in the same months of 2015.

Who Fired the TOWs, and Did Nusra Get Them?

The DIA’s Figure 10 attributes the anti-tank firings it could tie to a group. The chart covers all missile types, not just TOWs. The Southern Front led with 38%, followed by the 5th Corps at 23%, Harakat Hazm at 14%, the Syrian Revolutionaries Front at 11%, the Islamic Front at 10%, and Nur al-Din al-Zinki at 4%. The chart is labeled 2012–2013, although Hazm and the Southern Front were formed in early 2014.

The DIA said “The majority of the engagements observed have been conducted by Syrian opposition groups against the regime forces, although there is social media depicting ATGM use by extremist groups, namely Al Nusrah Front.” Its Figure 11 is captioned “Al Nusrah Front Claims Capture of TOW 2A ATGMs.”

The DIA records do not say who supplied the missiles. News reports filled in that part. In April 2014, the Washington Post reported that “Syria’s opposition fighters have been supplied with U.S.-made antitank missiles, the first time a major American weapons system has appeared in rebel hands.” Reuters reported the same month that Hazm had posted videos of the launches. In October 2015, the Post reported that the TOWs “were delivered under a two-year-old covert program coordinated between the United States and its allies to help vetted Free Syrian Army groups in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad.”

Nusra then turned on those groups. On March 1, 2015, the Post reported that “The first Syrian rebel group to be given U.S. weapons collapsed Sunday after losing control of its headquarters to Syria’s main al-Qaeda affiliate.” It said Hazm “had received U.S. weapons under a separate covert program launched last year by the CIA,” and that “Nusra fighters boasted on Twitter that they had seized control of U.S.-made TOW anti-tank missiles.” The Post added that the claims could not be verified. Reuters reported days later that Hazm had been central to a covert CIA effort to arm rebels, that a Syrian war monitor said 60 to 90 TOW missiles were among the weapons seized, and that Washington had never acknowledged the CIA program.

President Trump ended the program in 2017, the Post reported on July 19, 2017. The New York Times reported that the program had cost “more than $1 billion over the life of the program,” and that “reports that some of the C.I.A.-supplied weapons had ended up in the hands of a rebel group tied to Al Qaeda further sapped political support for the program.” Trump wrote that he was ending “massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad.”

The answer to the question, then, rests on two sets of facts. The DIA documented the TOW’s rise to 72% of observed firings, named the vetted opposition groups that fired anti-tank missiles, and logged Nusra’s claim to have captured TOW 2As. Reporting, not the DIA, ties those TOWs to a CIA program. No record reviewed here says the CIA armed the Nusra Front or HTS. What the record shows is that weapons given to vetted groups reportedly reached al-Julani’s fighters when his group overran theirs.

Where Julani Appeared: A Geolocation of His Idlib Public Appearances

From late 2023, al-Julani’s public schedule shifted from the battlefield to lecture halls, mosques, and meeting rooms. The Syrian Salvation Government, the civilian administration HTS backed in Idlib, posted the photos, and they were reshared widely. OctoProbe examined fifteen appearances from September 2023 to June 2024. For each one, OctoProbe traced the photo back toward its first post, matched fixed features in the room against reference images, and assigned a confidence level.

Five photos were traced to the exact original post. Five more were matched to the first publication of the same event, and two to the earliest repost that names the outlet. Thirteen appearances were placed: five at high confidence, five at moderate, and three at low. Two remain unresolved. High means a named place plus matching fixed features. Moderate means several matching features without a source naming the place. Low means a plausible match with real alternatives.

Several dates in circulation are off by a day. The first posts put the Quranic school visit on February 1, 2024, not February 2; the government symposium on December 26, 2023, not December 27; and the notables’ Eid greeting on April 12, 2024, not April 13. The September 2023 Bab al-Hawa photo existed by September 4, three days before Syria TV published it. The March 10, 2024, meeting was with academics, the Salvation Government prime minister, the higher education minister, and the Idlib University president, according to the original post.

Bab al-Hawa Crossing

Bab al-Hawa is the main crossing between Idlib and Turkey and the hub of aid deliveries into northwest Syria. None of the posts names the hall where al-Julani met visitors in September 2023. A video of Idlib University students touring the crossing shows the same room.

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Idlib University Hospital

On December 6, 2023, Idlib University posted photos of HTS leaders meeting academics on Telegram, before the widely shared reposts. The room is the hospital’s medical amphitheater, which the university showed in its own photos of an October 2020 conference. The March 30, 2024, meeting with top students used the same hall.

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Schools, Mosques, and Towns

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Low Confidence and Unresolved

Three appearances tie to the Sharia Guidance Department, HTS’s religious directorate, whose building has not been located. The December 23, 2023, session shares a patterned table covering with a humanitarian office and a napkin holder with a Bab al-Hawa room, so three candidates remain.

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What Do Human Rights Reports Say About HTS?

While al-Julani toured Idlib’s schools and mosques, State Department human rights reports recorded abuses by the group he led. State’s 2023 report said “HTS reportedly permitted confessions obtained through torture and executed or forcibly disappeared perceived opponents and their families.” It said the UN Commission of Inquiry found HTS held detainees “incommunicado in secret detention facilities referred to as ‘security prisons.’”

State’s 2024 report said the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) documented that HTS “killed 21 civilians, including one child and two women, during the year,” and that the commission “reported HTS carried out executions based on summary trials.” It attributed “17 deaths in Idlib due to torture to HTS.”

The same report said that “On February 1, HTS members raided Deir Hassan camp north of Idlib and arrested 55 persons, including eight women, on charges of inciting opposition to HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.” That raid came the same day al-Julani was photographed at the Quranic school in Idlib city.

The SNHR report of January 31, 2022, written in Arabic, said the group “cannot, merely by changing its name or even its affiliation, rid itself of violations previously committed by Jabhat al-Nusra.” (Translation.) It counted at least 505 civilians killed by HTS from 2012 through December 2021.

After December 2024

Rights groups and reporters have since documented killings by government and affiliated forces under the new state. Reuters reported that 1,479 Alawites were killed in March 2025, and that the chain of command over the forces involved reportedly led to Damascus. A government committee later said commanders did not order the killings, according to Reuters. In Suwayda, Amnesty said “government and government-affiliated forces were responsible for the extrajudicial executions of Druze people on July 15 and 16.”

The Records

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Abu Muhammad al-Julani?

He is the founder of Syria’s Nusra Front, which later became Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). He now uses his birth name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and was named Syria’s transitional president on January 29, 2025. The State Department named him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on May 16, 2013, and offered up to $10 million for information on him on May 10, 2017.

When did the United States drop the terrorist designations?

The $10 million reward offer was dropped on December 20, 2024. The State Department revoked HTS’s Foreign Terrorist Organization designation effective July 8, 2025. The UN Security Council delisted al-Sharaa on November 6, 2025, and the United States removed his Specially Designated Global Terrorist listing on November 7, 2025.

Did the CIA arm the Nusra Front or HTS?

No record reviewed here says so. The Defense Intelligence Agency documented U.S.-made TOW missiles becoming the most used anti-tank missile among Syrian non-state groups and logged a Nusra Front claim to have captured TOW 2A missiles. News reports tied the TOWs to a covert CIA program for vetted rebel groups, including Harakat Hazm, and reported that Nusra seized weapons when it routed those groups. The United States did not officially acknowledge the program.

What does the DIA FOIA release show?

It holds a May 28, 2015, DIA assessment titled “Syria/Iraq: Emerging Anti Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) Threat” and a September 22, 2015, follow-up. The assessment counted more than 900 videos of non-state missile firings. The follow-up found the U.S. TOW 2A made up 72% of the firings it reviewed. The records were released to OctoProbe under FOIA in DIA case FOIA-00321-2023.

Where did al-Julani appear in Idlib?

OctoProbe geolocated his public appearances from September 2023 to May 2024 to sites including the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, the Idlib University Hospital amphitheater, the Dar al-Wahi al-Sharif Quranic school, and the Zayd bin Haritha Mosque in Idlib city.

What abuses do human rights reports attribute to HTS?

State Department reports cite the Syrian Network for Human Rights and the UN Commission of Inquiry on killings, arbitrary detention, torture deaths, and summary executions by HTS. The network counted at least 505 civilians killed by HTS from 2012 to December 2021. For 2025, Amnesty International said government and government-affiliated forces executed dozens of Druze in Suwayda, and Reuters reported a chain of command reaching Damascus in the March killings of Alawites.

Colin Aamot is an investigative journalist and OSINT domain expert specializing in FOIA and public records. A technologist, U.S. Army veteran, and former Capitol Hill staffer, he has held director roles across the private and public sectors.Full bio