Rewards for Justice is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on Muhammad al-Jawlani, also known as Abu Muhammad al-Golani and Muhammad al-Julani. Al-Jawlani leads the al-Nusrah Front (ANF), al-Qa’ida’s (AQ) affiliate in Syria. In January 2017, ANF merged with several other hardline opposition groups to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). While al-Jawlani is not the leader of HTS, he remains the leader of AQ-affiliated ANF, which is at the core of HTS.
Under al-Jawlani’s leadership, ANF has carried out multiple terrorist attacks throughout Syria, often targeting civilians. In April 2015, ANF reportedly kidnapped, and later released, approximately 300 Kurdish civilians from a checkpoint in Syria. In June 2015, ANF claimed responsibility for the massacre of 20 residents in the Druze village of Qalb Lawzeh in Idlib province, Syria.
In April 2013, al-Jawlani pledged allegiance to AQ and its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. In July 2016, al-Jawlani praised AQ and al-Zawahiri in an online video and claimed the ANF was changing its name to Jabhat Fath Al Sham (“Conquest of the Levant Front”).
On May 16, 2013, the U.S. Department of State designated al-Jawlani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended. As a result of this designation, among other consequences, all property and interests in property of al-Jawlani that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with al-Jawlani. In addition, it is a crime to knowingly provide, or attempt or conspire to provide, material support or resources to ANF, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
