This is the story of the Lebanese Umm Ali with Ahmed Al-Sharaa.. What is Joseph Aoun’s relationship?

With simmering anger that had not been extinguished over the years, Umm Ali appealed to the Lebanese President, Joseph Aoun, to abide by his pledge when he was army commander not to be lenient in the case of those who killed her son and his companions on the Lebanese-Syrian border in 2014. So why does the bereaved mother take back the promise of the President of Lebanon today?

Umm Ali Bazal is the mother of Ali, a member of the Internal Security Forces, who was executed by the Al-Nusra Front in December 2014 after they kidnapped him and 17 other soldiers from their service centers in Arsal. Today, the leader of the Al-Nusra Front, “Abu Muhammad al-Julani,” is known by his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and assumes leadership of the new administration in Syria after the fall of al-Assad.

Ironically, Joseph Aoun, who was elected a few days ago as President of Lebanon, had taken over the front of the town of Arsal after the Al-Nusra Front launched its attack on the Lebanese security forces in the barrens of this town adjacent to the Syrian border in 2014. So how will the Lebanese president deal with Ahmed Al-Sharaa?

For Umm Ali, “Ahmed Al-Sharaa, or as we know him Abu Muhammad Al-Julani, bears responsibility for the killing and slaughter of our military sons. He is a terrorist and a beheader, and if he bathed in Zamzam water, he would remain a terrorist. “By God, if I encounter him one day, everyone knows what I will do to him.”

With deep anger and sadness, Umm Ali continued her talk to the “Al-Hurra” website, stressing her categorical rejection of any communication between Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who years ago had changed the name of his organization from “Jabhat Al-Nusra” to Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham, announcing the disengagement from Al-Qaeda.

In her speech, Umm Ali says: “I am the mother of a martyr, the son of the nation. I address my appeal to President Aoun, asking him to adhere to his previous promise he made to me when he was commander of the Lebanese Army, where he assured me at the time that he would not have mercy on those involved in the killing of soldiers, so he must not extend a hand to those whose hands are stained with the blood of our sons.”

The bereaved mother continues: “My son is lying under the dust, while Al-Julani is free. His little girl was deprived of him and her mother, who immigrated to Britain. She grew up in my arms, she is a trust in my neck, I live to care for her and preserve the memory of her martyr father.”

It is noteworthy that in 2014, the town of Arsal witnessed one of the most painful stations in Lebanon’s modern history, when the Al-Nusra Front, led by “Abu Muhammad al-Julani,” kidnapped a group of Lebanese soldiers while performing their national duty.

This incident was not just a passing incident, but rather constituted a bloody chapter whose effects are still lingering in the minds of the Lebanese, especially the families of the victims.

During their detention, the kidnapped people and their families lived through a nightmare that lasted for many months. Two of them were executed, in a crime that shook Lebanese public opinion, while the others were released after complex and arduous negotiations.

Today, with the rise of Ahmed Al-Sharaa to the leadership of the “Syrian Interim Administration,” difficult questions are renewed: How can the families of the soldiers whose sons were kidnapped and executed by Al-Sharaa and his group accept this reality? How will the current President of the Republic deal with a person whose hands are stained with the blood of Lebanese soldiers?

Black day

On that fateful day that Ali was kidnapped, he spoke to his mother before leaving for his work station, telling her, “I feel that something will happen in Arsal.” Take care of yourself.”

She tried to convince him not to go, but he reassured her, saying, “Don’t be afraid,” but as soon as he arrived at the security forces center, members of the Al-Nusra Front surrounded him. He called his mother to tell her what happened, and when she asked him to run away, he answered her, “I can’t.”

After four months of not hearing from Ali, his mother was able to contact him by phone through his wife’s brother, who was a member of the Al-Nusra Front, and is now accused of involvement in his execution along with his other brother, both of whom are from Arsal.

Umm Ali says, “He told me: If I have a lifetime, I will come back.” He instructed me to take care of his little daughter, Maram, who was no more than three years old at the time.”

It is noteworthy that in August 2014, following the Lebanese army’s arrest of the Syrian Imad Ahmed Jumaa, who belonged to the Al-Nusra Front, the Front launched attacks on the security forces and kidnapped 18 members.

Al-Nusra Front threatened to kill captured Lebanese soldiers from the Shiite sect if Hezbollah participated in the battles that the Front was preparing to launch in the Syrian Qalamoun region bordering Lebanon, where Hezbollah sites are located.

In September 2014, it published a video clip showing the execution of Lebanese soldier Muhammad Hamiyah by firing squad, alongside Ali Al-Bazzal, who appeared pleading with his family.

That day, the Al-Nusra Front announced, via its Twitter account, that “Mohammed is the first victim as a result of the intransigence of the Lebanese army,” which had become, as it described it, “a puppet of the Iranian party,” in reference to Hezbollah.

In December of the same year, I announced the execution of Al-Bazzal in a statement, which I attached to a picture showing him kneeling while someone shot him in the back of the head with a machine gun. (free)