He was cautiously receptive when fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra approached him offering to help with his relief efforts. One of the many groups fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, Jabhat al-Nusra is a hardline Islamist organization that was officially classified as a terrorist organization by the US State Department on Wednesday and that is looked upon by many Syrians with trepidation.

“Before I met them, I thought they were tough and not easy to work with, but after working with them I found that the opposite of that is true,” Mr. Ahmad says, explaining that the group was better organized than some professional charities he’s worked with. “I don’t believe Jabhat al-Nusra will be bad. I think both the domestic and international media has deformed their image.”