If Abu Mohamad al-Jollani, the leader of terrorist group Heiat Taharil al-Sham, tried to travel to New York exactly a year ago, he would have been at risk of arrest. It leads to his capture.
But today, Joranni is in the United States to attend a session at the UN General Assembly. The trip has attracted attention from social media users who have responded widely to Jolani’s arrival in New York. On social platform X (formerly Twitter), users described the transfer of Abu Mohamad Arjolani from an American prison in Iraq to the United Nations podium as a major contradiction and an impressive paradox.
Of course, Jorani’s trip to New York is not a coincidence or a matter of luck. Users said Jolani was officially wanted by the US, and his name was on the wanted list on May 16, 2013, and on May 10, 2017, Washington announced a $10 million reward for information leading to an arrest. But today, September 21, 2025, Jorani is in the US. One user said:
To understand the user’s surprise at Jolani’s presence in New York, we recommend taking a quick look at his past and how the US dealt with him. After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Jolani went to Iraq and spent some time in Mosul, fighting in the al-Qaeda rank under the command of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and his successors. From there he was transferred to Camp Bukka and then to a prison at Baghdad Airport. The US then handed over Jorani to the Iraqi government and sent him to Altaj prison until his release in 2008.
As the current US president, Donald Trump, announced during his campaign against presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the US was the main driver behind the rise of the region’s terrorist group ISIL, but later changed its policy to hostility towards the group. But while this policy change was merely theoretical, in reality, US policymakers were always supporting terrorist groups behind the scenes. This is the group that has caused uncertainty and collapse of regional countries, including Syria.
Jorani resumed terrorist activities with ISIL, a group of Takfiri terrorists founded in October 2006 under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He soon became the head of operations for this terrorist group in Mosul. At the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Joranni contacted Al-Baghdadi and agreed that Joranni would take responsibility for Syria and form an ISIL branch within the country.
Al Baghdadi also orders Joranni to fight the Syrian government and defeats Bashar al-Assad. Jolani entered his country with six men and within a year he recruited 5,000 fighter jets and deployed them in a wide area of Syria. US and Western media propaganda played an important role in instigating Syrian public opinion at the time against Bashar al-Assad’s central government. In January 2012, Jolani announced the establishment of the terrorist group “Jabhat al-Nusra Li-Ahl Al-Sham” and designated the village of Al-Shuhayl as its base. He also called on Syrians to take arms and fight to overthrow the Syrian government.
In April 2013, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the merger of ISIL and Jabat al-Nusra into a new entity called the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL), but Joranni refused to merge and later announced the pledge of loyalty of Al Zawahiri.
After Jolani’s pledge of loyalty to al-Qaeda, the US State Department added the organization to its list of terrorist groups. In May 2013, the US State Department described Jolani as a “international terrorist,” frozen assets and banned American citizens from contacting him.
The UN Security Council’s sanctions committee against ISIL then placed Jolani on the terrorist list, banning travel and banning weapons from carrying.
On May 10, 2017, the US Department of State announced a $10 million reward for information to identify or find Jolani. This was when the US intelligence reporting agency and security support for terrorist groups were also very clear during the attempted coup to overthrow Syrian Bashar al-Assad government.
That’s why Joranni took power in Syria last December, and the US revoked bounty after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad government, and the State Department announced that Joranni had been informed that he would not be paid $10 million for his capture. Even with all this, the Americans have yet to answer how it is possible for a terrorist who had a blessing of $10 million in his head yesterday to enter the United Nations today by walking the red carpet in New York and addressing the world!
MNA/