Once affiliated with Islamic State and al Qaeda, rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani professes religious tolerance. Many have doubts.

Eight years ago, Syria’s civil war shifted in President Bashar Al-Assad’s favor after a Russian blitzkrieg on Aleppo helped him regain control over the country’s second biggest city.

One of the oldest cities in recorded history, Aleppo, was seized by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on November 30. Leading the HTS was Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, a man on who the US has put a $10 million bounty on his head, as well as a man who was given the tag of an apostate by the Islamic State.