One year after Ahmed al-Sharaa—known globally as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani—seized full control of northwest Syria, Israeli officials are warning that the country has transformed into a functioning jihadist terror state on Israel’s northern border. What began as a quiet consolidation by Jolani’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has evolved into systematic massacres, forced displacement, indoctrination of children, and an expanding terror economy that mirrors Hamas’s rise in Gaza. Israeli leaders say the lessons of October 7 cannot be ignored again.
A Year of Massacres and Ethnic Cleansing
The Alawite Massacre: Opening Bloodbath
According to Israeli officials and Syrian human rights monitors, Jolani’s first major act after consolidating power in March 2025 was a coordinated assault on Alawite communities in Latakia, Tartous, Jableh, and Banias.
Reports document over 1,400 Alawites killed through executions, torture chambers, mass graves, and the burning of entire villages.
The Druze Massacre in Sweida
In July 2025, Jolani’s forces swept south, targeting the Druze population in Sweida. Independent documentation from Syrian monitoring groups indicates more than 1,000 Druze murdered, 539 civilians executed, 36 villages destroyed, and 128,000 displaced within weeks. Shrines and heritage sites were torched as part of a campaign many describe as deliberate ethnic cleansing.
Child Jihad Training Camps Running at Full Speed
Human rights organizations and satellite analysis confirm more than 4,000 children conscripted in 2025 alone into HTS-run “youth preparation camps.”
Footage from Idlib shows 8-year-olds training with rifles, chanting militant slogans, rehearsing the “liberation of al-Aqsa,” and pledging loyalty to Jolani’s dawah movement.
This infrastructure is widely seen as a carbon copy of Hamas-run indoctrination camps in Gaza, now fully replicated on Israel’s northern frontier.
Terror Economy: Confiscation and Extortion as State Policy
Under Jolani, northern Syria has shifted into a large-scale jihadist criminal economy.
Residents report a 2.5% “religious tax” enforced at gunpoint, widespread property confiscation from murdered minorities, and a network of illicit trade routes funding HTS operations.
Despite Jolani’s attempts to present himself internationally as a “moderate” in a blazer giving interviews to Western journalists, the evidence on the ground shows a hardened militant organization ruling through fear and bloodshed.
More than 10,000 people have been killed under Jolani’s rule in just twelve months.
Prophetic Context: A Rising Northern Threat Foretold
The emergence of a hardened jihadist enclave on Israel’s northern border has renewed prophetic discussions among scholars and pastors who study end-times conflict patterns.
Scripture describes a period when nations surrounding Israel will unite in hostility, creating instability on every border.
“Behold, they have said, ‘Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.’”
— Psalm 83:4, NASB 1977
Many see the rise of a radicalized northern territory as part of the broader alignment of hostile forces. The destabilization of Syria, the arming of jihadist factions, and Israel’s warnings of an imminent conflict reflect the pattern Jesus described of intensifying wars and threats before the end (Matthew 24).
Though interpretation varies, the geopolitical reality unmistakably mirrors the prophetic trajectory: a region growing more hostile, more radicalized, and more willing to attack Israel without restraint.
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Strategic Implications for Israel and the Region
Israel views Jolani’s regime as Hamas 2.0—same ideology, same indoctrination, and same terror infrastructure, but with greater territorial depth.
Israeli leaders warn they must not repeat the error of allowing a militant organization to grow unchecked.
With HTS forces entrenched only miles from Israeli communities in the Golan Heights, officials say confrontation is a matter of “when, not if.”
As one senior Israeli official put it:
“October 7 was the final warning. Israel will not allow a second Hamas to rise in the North.”
Israel reportedly has multiple pre-planned targets across northern Syria, and regional analysts believe a major confrontation could ignite at any time.
Conclusion
Ahmed al-Jolani has reshaped northwest Syria into a fully functioning jihadist state, complete with massacres, ethnic cleansing, indoctrination camps, and a terror-financed economy.
With more than 10,000 dead and an extremist miniature caliphate now positioned directly on Israel’s northern border, Jerusalem is signaling it will not allow another October 7 to take root.
The Middle East stands on the edge of another war—one Israel believes it must fight before the threat becomes unstoppable.
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