The UK’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, or MI6) forged a relationship with the Sunni Islamist Jihadist political and paramilitary group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) around two years before it led the offensive that toppled Syria’s Assad regime, MI6’s outgoing spymaster Richard Moore said on September 19 in Istanbul.

HTS, formerly named al-Nusra, was launched in 2012 by the rebel commander who now serves as Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani.

The war in Syria started in 2011. It is incorrect to describe it as over.

Before causing the downfall of Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, HTS distanced itself from al-Qaeda and Islamic State with a series of rebrandings.

Despite the US State Department's revocation of HTS's Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation in July this year, the group remains classified as a terrorist organisation by various international anti-terrorism agencies.

Forged a path

“Having forged a relationship with HTS a year or two before they toppled Bashar, we forged a path for the UK Government to return to the country within weeks,” Moore told reporters during his appearance in Istanbul.

According to Moore, John Ratcliffe, the Director of the CIA, while recently discussing a piece of mutual business, told him: “You guys can really hustle.”

Ex-US ambassador met al-Sharaa when he was still Jolani

A British NGO, which specialises in conflict resolution, in 2023 asked for help in bringing Sharaa, then talked of as Jolani, out of the terrorist world and into regular politics, Robert Ford, a former US ambassador to Damascus, said in May this year.

A video recording of a Ford lecture, entitled “Syrian Rebels Win – Now What?”, is available on YouTube. Ford delivered the lecture at The Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ford told how he met with Jolani in March and September 2023 and once more in January this year.

In December 2024, following the fall of the Assad regime, then US secretary of state Anthony Blinken under the Biden administration, called him to ask his opinion on whether the US should talk to Jolani, Ford also said.

Later on, media reports speculated that the British conflict resolution NGO was London-based Inter Mediate, launched by Jonathan Powell, currently serving as UK National Security Advisor (NSA) under Keir Starmer.

CIA contact in Iraq

On September 23, when in New York for an appearance on the podium at the UN General Assembly, Sharaa was hosted at the Concordia Summit by David Petraeus, who commanded the US Army 2007 troop “surge” in the Iraq War and later became director of the CIA.

The then Jolani was kept in jail by American forces in Iraq between 2006 and 2011. After his release, in 2012, he launched the Syrian affiliate of Al-Qaeda, al-Nusra Front, to fight Assad, Al Jazeera noted.

As you’d expect, some observers speculate that Jolani was recruited during his prison term in Iraq. Petraeus recalled that he was in command of the forces that kept the then Jolani detained in jail.

However, Patreus’ remarks can certainly not be taken as an official confirmation that the speculation is correct. The relation is in no way as clear and defined as the MI6, British NGO and Ford links previously mentioned.

Tweet: Cem Toker (@tokcem) is a former chair of Liberal Democrat Party (LDP) in Turkey.

Farewell speech in Istanbul

Moore, 62, chose Istanbul as the place he wanted to deliver his farewell speech – on October 1, he hands over his post as Chief of MI6, or “C”, to Blaise Metreweli, 47.

Journalists from Turkish mainstream media along with Turkey correspondents of foreign media outlets were invited to the farewell event.

Tweet: Moore (@ChiefMI6) retweeted a local journalist’s tweet.

The transcript of Moore’s speech, “exactly as it was delivered,” is available on the UK government’s official website.

Moore’s “second home”

“It is so good to be back in my second home, Turkey, a country in which my wife and I are privileged to have lived for eight years, most recently when I served as British Ambassador for four fascinating years from 2014 through 2017,” Moore said as he began his speech, speaking in Turkish.

First Turkey mission in 1989, 'boarding with a Turkish family'

Moore’s connection with Turkey stretches back to 1989 when, as a young language student, he arrived in Istanbul to board with a Turkish family for several weeks as he sought to improve his Turkish.

The Moores’ bond with Turkey was cemented by the arrival of their daughter, born in Istanbul, “a true Istanbullu.”

Moore is a fluent speaker of Turkish.

One translation of Istanbullu to English is “Istanbuller”, but Istanbullus prefer “Istanbulite”.

Why Istanbul?

Moore did not simply choose Istanbul for his speech out of sentiment. He also opted for the city because, as it has been for centuries, Turkey is a nation of pivotal importance to the international system.

In almost all of the issues that Moore will have grappled with as the secret service chief, Turkey will have been a key player.

Shared interests

As a Nato ally, Turkey is a staunch supporter of Ukrainian sovereignty and independence and is especially moved by the plight of some ethnic cousins, the Tatars of the Crimea, according to Moore.

To its east, he reflected, Turkey shares the UK’s interest in preserving a stable Caucasus and Central Asia free from malign external influences. To its south, Turkey and MI6 have worked together against Islamic State terrorists and in shoring up the stability of post-Assad Syria, he added.

Turkey and the UK also share an abhorrence at the bestial depravity of the October 7th attacks in Israel and dismay at the appalling suffering of innocent Palestinians in Gaza that has followed, Moore also said, adding that both the Turkish and British governments believe that only a two-state solution will deliver lasting security and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Worked with Fidan and Kalin

Moore worked closely with Hakan Fidan while he was spymaster at Turkey’s intelligence service MIT and with his successor Ibrahim Kalin, both of whom he described as “consummate professionals and firm friends.”

Fidan is presently Turkey’s foreign minister.

‘Nobody does it better’

For the final part of his speech, Moore switched to English.

He talked of how MI6 supports companies in fields like quantum computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic biology. 

No one, worldwide, is better at intelligence collaboration than the UKIC (United Kingdom Intelligence Community) formed by MI6, the UK’s domestic Security Service MI5 and GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), he remarked.

Watched as Zelensky became the leader he is

Moore said that during his five years as spymaster, trust, truth, deception and espionage were key components of the biggest challenge MI6 and the UK have faced in that time, namely Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine.

The leadership of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been critical, according to Moore.

“I remember the man I hosted for lunch in my first week as Chief. He was still pretty new in politics, an untried and untested leader. But even then, you could sense the grit and determination,” Moore said.

“To have watched him become the leader he is has been a remarkable privilege,” he added.

Moore was also proud to state that support for Ukraine amongst the British public remains steadfast.

Final recruitment call to “disillusioned and dismayed” Russians

Whilst Russia remains a main mission of MI6, there are three other priorities – China, Iran and counter-terrorism – that are also proving enduring challenges, according to Moore.

Moore said he had heard the concerns of his colleague, Director General of MI5 Ken McCallum, about Chinese interference in the UK.

“In Prague, I called on Russians disillusioned and dismayed by Putin’s agenda to come spy with us, just like their grandparents and parents did,” Moore also mentioned, referring to the launch of a dedicated dark web portal by MI6.