Syrian President: I am not ashamed of the name al-Julani... My history does not disgrace me

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa affirmed that he is not ashamed of the name “al-Jolani,” and that he takes pride and feels honored by his history, which carries “many burdens, cries, blood, martyrs, and suffering.” In an exclusive interview on Al Jazeera’s “The Interview” program, al-Sharaa said, “My sense of belonging to al-Jolan emerged as a result of the continuous daily discourse within my family and community.” He recounted key milestones in his personal and intellectual journey, linking his upbringing in Damascus, his experience in Iraq, and the trajectory of the Syrian revolution, noting that the accumulation of these experiences led to reflections that culminated in a project based on the state and institutions, rather than on factions or closed ideologies. He pointed out that his family’s roots trace back to the occupied Golan, and that his father was forced to flee after its occupation in 1967. He described migration as one of the harshest challenges a person can face, because it severs the historical continuity of the family and forces it to rebuild its life from scratch—a scenario he said he later witnessed repeatedly among Syrians during the years of war. He added that the Golan issue was not merely a family memory, but was present daily in his father’s conversations about the land and return, alongside the constant presence of the Palestinian cause in the family’s consciousness. This fostered in him, from an early age, a close connection to regional issues and a premature sense of responsibility toward them.