The ideology of the Islamists who came to power in Syria in December 2024 is analyzed in historical retrospection as a separate strategic line of Middle Eastern jihadism. This is the line of the coalition of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly – Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and Jabhat al-Nusra), banned in the Russian Federation. It has undergone changes over the course of almost a decade and a half of the Syrian conflict, and has moved away from those versions of “jihad of the sword” and strategies for the struggle for power that were broadcast by other Islamists. First created as a branch of Al-Qaeda terrorist organization (banned in the Russian Federation), Jabhat al-Nusra soon became a center of attraction for the Syrian armed opposition, that pushed the idea of establishing an Islamic Syrian emirate with a Sunni majority. Gradual disassociation from affiliations with Al-Qaeda that was caused by the problem of international legitimization and expansion of Jabhat al-Nusra’s influence, as well as renaming of the organization expanded its capabilities: political and administrative structures emerged to strengthen influence among the population of the controlled territories. At the same time, there was an internal fight for power between various jihadist groups, from which Hayat Tahrir al-Sham came out victorious.The issues of the genesis and rebranding of the group, evolution of its ideology and adjustment of implementation in the course of both the fight against the regime and the mutual competition for power between different groups characterized as jihadist are considered in the article.