Abu Yahia al-Hamawi (1981-), born Mohannad al-Masri, was the leader of Ahrar ash-Sham from 12 September 2015, succeeding Abu Jaber.
Biography[]
al-Hamawi in Aleppo on 1 August 2016
Mohannad al-Masri was born in 1981 in Qalaat al-Madiq, Syria, and studied to be a civil engineer at Tishreen University in Lattakiah, and he became friends with Hadi al-Abdullah while there. On 2 August 2007 he was arrested for his beliefs in Islamism and held at the Sednaya prison along with several other future Syrian Opposition leaders. In 2011 he joined the uprising against the Syrian Arab Republic in what would be known as the Syrian Civil War, and he founded the Osama bin Zeid Company based in his hometown; the organization would later join the Ahrah ash-Sham organization founded in May 2011 (before even the Free Syrian Army was formed). Later, he led the Omar ibn al-Khattab Battalion, and he fought against the Syrian Arab Army. On 12 September 2015, Ahrar ash-Sham leader Abu Jaber stepped down and Abu Yahia became the new Ahrah ash-Sham leader.
Hamawi planned to set up a power base in Syria for al-Qaeda and make a complete break from all Western influences in the Muslim World, and his ultimate goal was to create a worldwide caliphate under sharia law, a common goal of Salafism. However, Ahrar ash-Sham suffered several setbacks in 2016 as the Syrian Arab Army and its allies cut off all of the supply lines into Aleppo and repelled several rebel offensives with assistance from Russia's air force.