Ahmed al-Sharaa

Al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi signed an agreement seeking to integrate north-eastern Syria's civilian and military institutions, including the SDF, into the Syrian state.

State of the evidence

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Attribution

Directly implicated

The intervention of government forces in the clashes in Suwayda was followed by summary executions, looting and sectarian abuses attributed to several sides, including forces operating under the government.

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Command responsibility

In November 2025, the Security Council removed al-Sharaa from the ISIL/Al-Qaeda sanctions list, a major step towards his diplomatic normalisation as Syria's president.

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Directly implicated

Al-Sharaa was designated transitional president by the victorious forces, without a popular election, while officials from HTS occupied central positions within the new state apparatus.

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Directly implicated

The constitutional framework adopted under al-Sharaa provided for a five-year transition and concentrated significant presidential powers; Kurdish representatives rejected it as insufficiently pluralistic and decentralised.

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Political responsibility

Following attacks by supporters of the former regime against the new forces, government units, allied factions and mobilised groups were accused of executions and other atrocities; Alawite civilians suffered most of the reprisals.

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Command responsibility

Arrest campaigns and torture allegations fuelled demonstrations in Idlib in 2024 calling for reforms and, in the case of some protesters, al-Sharaa's departure.

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Political responsibility

HTS and allied factions led the rapid offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime and placed al-Sharaa at the centre of Syria's new government.

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Political responsibility

After the capture of Damascus, al-Sharaa pledged to dismantle the former regime's security apparatus, close its prisons and prosecute those responsible for torture.

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Directly implicated

Following a meeting between American diplomats and al-Sharaa, Washington announced that it would no longer pursue the offer of a $10 million reward for his arrest.

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Directly implicated

HRW described arbitrary detention, torture, summary executions, looting, extortion and interference with humanitarian assistance under HTS rule.

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Human Rights Watch documented arbitrary detention of journalists, activists and residents critical of HTS, as well as cases of torture in its detention facilities in Idlib.

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The State Department explicitly added HTS and other names to the al-Nusra designation to prevent the group from evading the counterterrorism regime by changing its name.

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The movement led by al-Sharaa joined other factions under the name Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which gradually became the dominant force in Idlib.

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Directly implicated

When al-Baghdadi sought to merge Islamic State of Iraq with al-Nusra, al-Sharaa rejected the merger and pledged allegiance directly to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

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Institutional responsibility

Al-Sharaa was listed by the Security Council under the ISIL and Al-Qaeda sanctions regime because of his leadership of al-Nusra.

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Directly implicated

According to the UN sanctions committee, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi tasked al-Sharaa with establishing a branch in Syria; al-Nusra Front announced its formation in January 2012.

State of the evidence

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Directly implicated