Leadership and Unity in Conflict

When you said goodbye to me, you told me our next meeting would be in Damascus.

It was a dream nine and a half years ago.

I didn't believe this. I didn't expect it.

I didn't think that this person hunted in the mountains, who was living

in a cave, could enter Damascus, where the Russians at that time had entered and saved the regime.

And the Iranian forces, the Guard, the Syrian forces were there, Hezbollah was there,

The Shia militias that came from all corners of the earth were there.

The regime itself, with its large army, was there.

So who are you to remove them and enter Damascus? But he was speaking with amazing confidence and certainty.

And I said, maybe, maybe Ahmed al-Sharaa is telling the truth, and I have known his name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, since that day,

because he told me, he told me everything about his life, his father, and his family, but

God is my witness, I never revealed that to anyone at all.

The ability to gather people and influence them is very high.

And the greatest proof of this is that he is the only one, while the Syrian factions remained in conflict from the first day to the last.

Until he was able to gather all these factions and unite them in the way they did.

And when they became one, holding fast to the rope of God and not dividing, this was one of the reasons victory was prepared for them.

Ahmed al-Shara focuses on quality, not quantity.

All the people I knew around him were very distinguished in their culture, their knowledge, their personality, and their leadership style.

They know their roles and the mission they are working for. They speak to people with one voice and one language, with no confusion.

I met people who work with him in Idlib, in Homs, and I met them in different places.

I met these people, and it was as if I were hearing one person. Everyone spoke the same language because he...

...spent a very long time preparing the people and unifying the goal.

And a leader's ability to do this... only a few in history can bring people together.

If you look back at Saladin—and I am not comparing here, so no one says you are comparing Ahmed al-Shara to Saladin, but...

When you look at leadership and leadership qualities, you must look at the leaders who achieved things.

Saladin could not proceed to liberate Jerusalem until he had gathered the scattered remnants of the nation at that time.

He entered into wars with many that lasted a long time until he was able to unify them and ensure his back was not exposed.

He could not have fought this battle with even a single faction behind him in disagreement.

They would have stabbed him in the back, so he was able to gather the people and unify them.