Executive Summary
Syria’s transitional government—led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)—in December 2024 formally named 38-year-old Anas Khattab as the Director of the General Intelligence Service. Known by the alias Abu Ahmad Hdud, he was designated as a terrorist by the United Nations Security Council in 2014. Due to his links with al-Qaeda and ISIS. His history in this regard will likely complicate cooperation with some countries’ security services, while his history of ties to Turkish intelligence makes his appointment a gain for Ankara.
Khattab took part in a recent meeting in Damascus between an Iraqi delegation and Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani), who is now the leader in Syria. The discussions focused on border security and broader regional developments. This activity is one indicator that he plans to engage with regional players and he has stated an intention to reshape Syria’s security community.
Profile
Anas Khattab, born in 1987 in Jairoud, a mountain in Eastern Qalamoun, enrolled to study architecture at Damascus University. He is fluent in two foreign languages (although specific details are not available) and is also known as highly cultured. Some sources claim he went to Iraq in the early 2000s. At the same time, the Lebanese media outlet al-Modon asserts that the Syrian government actually deployed him there in 2003, after Saddam Hussein’s fall, as a member of Syria’s security services. This theory remains unverified, however; Khattab would have been only 16 years old at the time.
According to al-Moussa, editorial secretary at Syria TV, and experts on extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, Khattab fled to Iraq in 2008 after being tracked by Syrian intelligence. He intended to wage jihad against “the American occupying forces’’ in the Qalamoun region near Damascus and Lebanon.
Khattab pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra in 2012 and held multiple senior roles in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). His previous positions include General Administrator of Al-Nusra Front, deputy to Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, and head of the HTS Intelligence and General Security Apparatus in Idlib. He established the organisation’s intelligence apparatus and played a central role in undermining ISIS activities in Idlib through infiltration and targeted security operations.
Khattab, known for his covert operations, has only a few publicly available photographs before his recent appointment, including the one featured in the government’s announcement of its newly elected leaders (see above). He is widely regarded as someone who prefers to work in the shadows. With a strong grasp of security and intelligence, he has played a major role in disrupting extremist groups in Idlib. Unlike many HTS leaders who focus on political or administrative studies, Khattab’s architectural background provides him with a unique approach to planning and operations. [source, source, source, source]
