Last night’s assassination of Abu Maria al-Qahtani, a senior figure in Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), leaves HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani as the last man standing after a decade-long jihadist turf war in Syria.
Yet while al-Jolani may see, in the elimination of al-Qahtani, the chance to consolidate power in Syria’s north-west, it is also likely to heighten his own vulnerability.
Al-Jolani’s aim is for HTS to be seen as the legitimate ruler in north-west Syria and he has been systematically eliminating rivals from both internal and external to tighten his grip.
Throughout his tenure in jihadist groups, al-Qahtani exhibited the kind of pragmatic flair that al-Jolani ultimately regarded as a threat. He wanted to be the only pragmatist on the scene.
Jihadist critic
Born in Iraq, Abu Maria al-Qahtani began as a member of the Al Qaeda in Iraq, fighting US troops there in 2003.
He moved to Syria in 2010 and co-founded the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliated group led by al-Jolani.
His time with both the Nusra Front and later HTS was turbulent. In 2014, al-Qahtani rose to prominence because of his frequent posts on Twitter (now X) criticising a wide range of jihadist leaders.
He saw Islamic State (IS) as a direct threat to al-Qaeda but extended his critique to al-Qaeda leaders as well, who he blamed for the rise of IS. His views caused problems, and in 2015, al-Jolani sidelined him.