Anas Khattab, Syria's new intelligence chief (Credit: Screenshot of a photo circulating on social media platform X)
Anas Khattab, the new head of Syria’s intelligence services, was appointed on Thursday, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). This move is part of broader efforts to restructure state institutions following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on Dec. 8.
Khattab, nicknamed Abu Ahmad Houdoud, is depicted in local media as the shadow figure behind the ruling Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Since the group’s formation in 2017, he has overseen its internal affairs and security policy. Despite being only 37, he boasts a long career in international jihad.
Originally from Jairoud, a town in the Qalamoun mountains, he reportedly enrolled in architecture at Damascus University. Several contradictory pieces accounts about this secretive figure circulated on social media platforms. Some suggest that he moved to Iraq in the early 2000s, but according to the Lebanese media outlet al-Modon, the Syrian government sent him there in 2003, after the fall of Saddam Hussein, as an officer in the Syrian security apparatus. This theory, however, remains unconfirmed, as Khattab was just 16 years old at the time.
A more plausible account, though still unverified by L'Oreint Le-Jour, comes from journalist Abdallah al-Moussa, editorial secretary at Syria TV. According to al-Moussa and experts on extremist movements in Syria and Iraq, Khattab fled to Iraq in 2008 after being tracked by Syrian intelligence to wage jihad against "the American occupying forces." There, he joined the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) and adopted the name Abu Ahmad Houdoud, becoming "Emir of the Frontiers" within the group.
Key security role
Khattab is said to have met Ahmad al-Sharaa, known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, shortly before the Syrian revolution in 2011. He was a founding member of the al-Nosra Front, created by Jolani in 2012. Khattab quickly became the group's top security official.
"He communicated periodically with Al-Qaida in Iraq leadership to receive financial and material assistance and helped facilitate funding and weapons for al-Nusrah Front," according to Opensanctions.
Khattab was added to international terrorism lists, first by the United States in 2012 and later by the United Nations in 2014. These sanctions remain active today.
By mid-2013, he was reportedly a member of al-Nosra’s Shura Council, in addition to his security role. Serving as Jolani's deputy, Khattab was in charge of appointing Jolani's bodyguards.
Described as well-educated and fluent in two foreign languages, Khattab maintained a low profile, and few photographs of him emerged until his recent appointment. "Only those very close to him within HTS know his real background," explained Moustafa Dahnoun, a journalist in Idlib. Dahnoun added that Khattab completed his architecture studies at Idlib University during the war.
When ties between al-Nosra and al-Qaeda were severed, the group rebranded as Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham in 2017. This shift allowed Khattab to establish the group’s intelligence service and, later, its general security service in Idlib, the group’s stronghold.
As the head of HTS’ most important apparatus within the military command and its "Syrian Salvation Government" (local administration governing the territories controlled by HTS during the war), Khattab is responsible for leading internal purges against radical members and extremist factions in Syria's north-western province. Notably, he oversaw efforts to track down Hourras al-Dine, a group linked to al-Qaeda that included thousands of Syrian and foreign fighters.
HTS also eliminated Islamic State cells in Idlib by "penetrating their ranks from within and launching a series of rapid and precise security operations," according to Syrian journalist Abdallah al-Moussa's post on social media platform X.
Some analysts suggest that HTS has been a silent partner to the U.S. in the fight against the Islamic State and other jihadist groups, possibly sharing intelligence with U.S. forces. This cooperation may have facilitated U.S. drone strikes targeting jihadist leaders and their hideouts.
