"Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, a diplomat with years of experience in Middle East affairs, former coordinator at the UN Security Council and now director of the Counter Extremism Project, a non-profit organization with offices in New York and Berlin, tells iMEdD that it will take time to prove that the shift away from Islamic extremism advocated by HTS is sincere. “The group’s history is really also the current leader’s history,” says Dr. Schindler, highlighting al-Jolani’s role in the creation and development of the organization.”"