Episode 333 – Is it wise to see an ‘ex’ jihadi as the best hope for Syria?
Hip hip hooray for Syria! The hated Assad regime is done, hopefully for ever. The country could enter a new era – fingers crossed – but the new leader is a man who is a ?former? terrorist, Ahmed Al-Sharaa. Is he indeed someone who has left terrorism behind? I am not so sure, and I want to explore this issue at greater depth.
About my guest
Dr. Omar Mohammed is a historian from Mosul, known only recently as the anonymous blogger ‘Mosul Eye’. Through Mosul Eye, Omar set out to inform the world about life under the Islamic State in his city. He is the head of the Antisemitism Research Initiative within the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. He hosts the podcast series “Mosul and the Islamic State,” which tells untold stories from inside the Islamic State’s reign of terror, the pursuit of justice in its aftermath, and the enduring struggle of the people of Mosul for a better future. Additionally, he hosts “36 Minutes on Antisemitism,” a series that discusses the rise of antisemitism around the world, featuring policymakers and officials globally. Omar teaches Middle East History, Cultural Heritage Diplomacy, and Counter Terrorism at Sciences Po University. His focus has now shifted to advocating social initiatives for the people of Mosul, including the international effort to re-supply the Central Library of the University of Mosul. Omar served as a senior consultant at UNESCO from 2018 to 2023. He has professional experience in cultural heritage project management. He has led several heritage projects in Iraq and the Middle East, including the Oral History of the Mosuli Jewish Community in Israel and the Oral History of Mosul in Iraq. Omar is also active in climate change activism, where he led the Green Mosul project to replant trees in his hometown, where he was exiled. He received his Ph.D. in Middle East and Ottoman History from EHESS in Paris, France, and holds an MA in Middle East History from the University of Mosul. He was named 2013 Researcher of the Year by Iraq’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. He was listed among The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life in 2020 by The Algemeiner. His doctoral research explores history and historians in 19th and 20th-century Mosul. He now lives in exile in Europe.
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Canadian Intelligence Eh
In a world of multiple voices and opinions it can be very hard to know where to turn. One choice is to look to those who actually worked in counter-terrorism in the national security world.
In these half-hour podcasts, 32-year Canadian intelligence veteran Phil Gurski is joined by a fascinating array of individuals with something meaningful to say about these issues as they provide insight into what they mean and what we need to do about them.
About Phil Gurski
Phil worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation. From 1983 to 2001 he was employed as a senior multilingual analyst at Communications Security Establishment (CSE – Canada’s signals intelligence agency), specialising in the Middle East. He also served as senior special advisor in the National Security Directorate at Public Safety Canada from 2013, focusing on community outreach and training on radicalisation to violence, until his retirement from the civil service in May 2015, and as consultant for the Ontario Provincial Police’s Anti-Terrorism Section (PATS) from May to October 2015. He also ran Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting from May 2015 to May 2025.
He was the Director of Security and Intelligence at the SecDev Group from June 2018 to July 2019 and the Director of the National Security Programme at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute from 2020-2022. He has also taught on national security issues at George Brown College, the University of Ottawa and Georgian College. Mr. Gurski has presented on violent Islamist-inspired and other forms of terrorism and radicalisation across Canada and around the world and is actively sought by Canadian and international media on national security and intelligence issues. He has written hundreds of op-eds on these matters for several Canadian media since 2016
He is the author of The Threat from Within: Recognizing Al Qaeda-inspired Radicalization and Terrorism in the West (Rowman and Littlefield 2015) Western Foreign Fighters: The Threat to Homeland and International Security (Rowman and Littlefield 2017), The Lesser Jihads: Taking the Islamist fight to the world (Rowman and Littlefield 2017), An end to the ‘War on Terrorism (Rowman and Littlefield 2018), When Religion Kills: How Extremist Justify Violence Through Faith (Lynne Rienner 2019), The Peaceable Kingdom? A history of terrorism in Canada from Confederation to the present (self-published: 2021, republished by Double Dagger in 2022), The Fenians: Brotherhood of fools or Canada’s first terrorist threat? (Double Dagger: 2025) and the forthcoming 9/11: the Unfinished Battle – Why jihadi terrorism is stronger, wider and far from over (Optimum Publishing 2026). He regularly blogs and podcasts (Canadian Intelligence Eh!), and posts on Bluesky (@borealissaves.bsky.social) on terrorism and intelligence matters.
