Who is the Albanian who has assumed official position in Syria?

In addition to Albanians originally from northern Macedonia, Reuters and AFP, calling for sources within Syria, have reported that even one citizen of Tajikistan and three Chinese waters are among the foreigners who have been promoted to official positions.

They have been given the rank of Brigadier General and at least one of them has taken up the colonel's post under reports that Radio Free Europe has not been able to verify independently.

Abdul Samrez Jashar, born in northern Macedonia known as Abu Qatada al-Albani on a Facebook profile believed to be behind him, has written that he received the colonel's rank.

Jashar, 48, is the leader of “Xhemati Albani”, which is a militant group consisting mainly of ethnic Albanians.

This group has an alliance with Hayat Tarhir al-Sham (HTS) the Islamist group declared a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union that ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power in December 2024.

Abdul Jashar has been sanctioned by the United States since 2016. According to the Treasury decision, this military adviser has been sanctioned as one of Al-Nusra's leaders, the branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria, and has helped raise funds for Nusra's families of warriors.

Who is Cemate Alban, led by Yashhar?

Adrian Steun, a foreign policy and security expert operating in Washington and associate of the International Centre for Counterterrorism at The Hague, has earlier told Radio Free Europe that Cemati Alban has been active in Syria since 2012, though not officially by that name.

However, its components, the people who formed this group later used it as the name”, he said.

According to him, this group is made up of dozens of people, has ethnic Albanian command structures, and is referring to a “Islamist group of jihadists and well structured”.

The “Persons that are members of this group are coming mainly from Kosovo, from Northern Macedonia, but also from other Albanian trains in the Balkans, and from the@x1> diaspora, Steuni has said.

The Albanian group's “leader there is a 48-year-old from Skopje, which is known as Abu Qatade al-Albani. His real name is Abdul Jashar and has had high advisory positions with HTS commander”, he added.

Radio Free Europe has verified a video of November 30, 2024, showing an Albanian-speaking soldier standing in a fortress in the town of Alepos. The video was captured on the day HTS took over from the northwest city.

The same soldier carried a distinguishing mark of “the Albian Tactical”, which is believed to be a subgroup of Cemati Alban, focused on training.

Jex0> James Alban is divided into several groups that are specialised: one for mines, the other is a sniper group, and then we have this training group called Albanian Tactical”, decoupled State.

According to him, the Albanian group and its leadership have a particular significance within the HTS.