Zahran Alloush
زهران علوش
Also known as: Abu Hamam
Journeys
The Sednaya Release Who Became Ghouta's Warlord
Zahran Alloush's trajectory — from Sednaya prisoner to warlord commanding thousands — embodies the Assad regime's deliberate strategy of releasing jihadists to ensure the rebellion would be painted as Islamist extremism rather than a democratic uprising.
Zahran Alloush: Warlord of the Ghouta
From Assad's prison to commanding the largest rebel force in the Damascus suburbs — and the crimes committed along the way.
Biography
Zahran Alloush was the founder and commander of Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam), the dominant rebel faction in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus. Detained by Assad's government in 2009 for Islamist activities and released after the 2011 uprising began, he rapidly built the most powerful armed group in the suburbs of Damascus. His forces held Eastern Ghouta through years of regime sieges, but his rule was also marked by severe abuses including the kidnapping of the activists known as the Douma Four in December 2013. He was killed on December 25, 2015 in a Russian airstrike targeting a meeting of rebel commanders.