Army of Mujahideen

Not to be confused with Jaish al-Mujahideen (Iraq).
Army of Mujahideen
Participant in the Syrian Civil War

Logo of the Army of Mujahideen

Logo of the Army of Mujahideen
Active 2 January 2014 – present[1]
Ideology Sunni Islamism[2]
Leaders Cap. Mohammed Shakerdi[3]
Sheikh Tawfiq Shahabuddin (Former)[4]
Lt. Col. Abu Bakr (Former)[5]
Hammoud Al-Barm † (Top Commander)[6]
Headquarters Aleppo Governorate, Syria
Area of operations Syria
Strength More than 5,000[7]–12,000[8]
Part of Free Syrian Army
Syrian Revolutionary Command Council[9]
Levant Front(former)[10][11]
Fatah Halab[12]
Rad al-Mazalem[13][14][15][16]
Allies Syria Revolutionaries Front
Islamic Front
al-Nusra Front
Ajnad al-Sham Islamic Union
Sham Legion
Alweiat Al-Furqan
[17]
Opponents Syrian Armed Forces
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant[18]
Battles and wars

Syrian Civil War

The Army of Mujahideen (Arabic: جيش المجاهدين‎‎, Jaysh al-Mujahideen) is a coalition of Islamist rebel groups which formed in order to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during the Syrian Civil War.[19] The group accused ISIL of disrupting "security and stability" in areas that had been freed from the control of the Assad government.[20] The spokesperson of the coalition said it would start operations in Idlib and Aleppo and gradually expand towards the rest of Syria.[1]

History

The factions which formed the Army of Mujahideen largely emerged from the villages and towns of the Aleppo hinterland.[21][22] The Army does not have a political program, and although the member groups have an Islamist identity, they were largely non-ideological Free Syrian Army affiliated groups earlier in the Syrian Civil War.[21] The three groups at the core of the alliance were Division 19, Fastaqim Kama Umirt and the Nour al-Din al-Zanki Islamic Brigades, which was also part of the Authenticity and Development Front.[21] On 4 May 2014, the Army of Mujahideen announced the withdrawal of the Nour al-Din al-Zanki Islamic Brigades from the coalition.[4] On 3 June 2014, the Army announced the expulsion of Division 19's Liwaa al-Ansar unit and its leader, Abu Bakr, accusing them of theft and kidnapping.[5] Charles Lister, of the Brookings Doha Center, described the Army of Mujahideen as being a shadow of its former self by August 2014, partially due to a reduction in support it had received from foreign states.[23] Fastaqim Kama Umirt left the group around December 2014.[11]

In September 2014, the United States began planning weapon supplies to the group,[24] and in the same month, fifty of the groups fighters were given military training in Qatar and supplied with BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles in a covert CIA program.[25]

On 6 May 2015, it, along with 13 other Aleppo-based groups, joined the Fatah Halab joint operations room.[12]

It announced its support to Turkey against the PKK.[26]

Numerous factions of the group, including the al-Noor Islamic Movement, Liwaa Amjad al-Islam and the al-Quds Brigades left to join the Thuwar al-Sham Battalions in April 2015.[27]

Member groups

19th Division (FSA):

Battalion of the Martyr Muhammad Sha'ban[28][29]
Farouq Battalion
5th Battalion
Revolutionaries of Atarib Gathering
Atarib Martyrs Brigade
Battalion of the Martyr Alaa al-Ahmad
Central Force for the City of Atarib
Ansar al-Haqq Battalion
Loyalty to God Battalion
Shells of Justice Brigade

Former members

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Syrian Opposition Builds Army Against Assad, Al-Qaeda". Anadolu Agency. 3 January 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "Syria opposition says it backs rebel fight against al-Qaeda". Al Arabiya News. 4 January 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Syria: Army of the Mujahideen Challenges ISIS Gains". Al Akhbar. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Jeish al-Mujahideen Charter – Comment and Translation". Goha's Nail. 4 May 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  5. 1 2 "جيش المجاهدين يعلن في بيان له فصل لواء الأنصار وعزل قائده المقدم أبو بكر عن قيادته بسبب "تورطه في بقضايا سرقات وخطف وتهريب سجناء من داعش". 3-6-2014". mojez.com.
  6. ↑ https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/jihadist-rebels-mourn-loss-16-fighters-government-forces-advance-aleppo-city/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ "Pushing Back Against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant: The Syria Revolutionaries' Front and the Mujahideen Army". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 7 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  8. ↑ "Al Qaida rebels leave mass grave behind as they desert base in Syria". McClatchy. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  9. ↑ "Translation: the Formation of the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council". Goha's Nail. 3 August 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  10. ↑ "Syrian Civil War factions".
  11. 1 2 "The Levant Front: Can Aleppo's Rebels Unite?". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  12. 1 2 "Zulfikarr comments on "Aleppo operations room" announcing the preparation for "the great battle" with 14 rebel groups". reddit.
  13. ↑ "Ivan Sidorenko on Twitter".
  14. ↑ "معركة رد المظالم (@Rd_Almzalm) - Twitter".
  15. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/rd.almzalm/
  16. ↑ Adra, Zen (18 April 2016). "Field report: Islamist rebels attack Syrian Army in Hama. Map Update".
  17. ↑ "Freedom, Human Rights, Rule of Law: The Goals and Guiding Principles of the Islamic Front and Its Allies". Democratic Revolution, Syrian Style. 17 May 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  18. ↑ "Syria rebels unite and launch new revolt, against jihadists". AFP. 4 January 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  19. ↑ "Qaeda-Linked Insurgents Clash With Other Rebels in Syria, as Schism Grows". New York Times. 3 January 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  20. ↑ "Syrian rebels launch fierce offensive against al Qaeda fighters". Reuters. 4 January 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  21. 1 2 3 "The Mujahedeen Army of Aleppo". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  22. ↑ "Factbox: Syrian rebels against opposition coalition". Reuters. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  23. ↑ "As ISIS closes in, is it game over for Syria's opposition in Aleppo?". CNN. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  24. ↑ "After A Long Wait, Syrian Rebels Hope The Weapons Will Now Flow". NPR. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  25. ↑ "Facing Islamic State in Syria, U.S.-trained rebels await more help". Reuters. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2015. The 50 fighters were the first from their group to attend the training in Qatar, part of an ostensibly covert CIA program to offer military support to vetted factions in opposition to President Bashar al-Assad
  26. ↑ "Ibn Nabih". Twitter.
  27. ↑ "The Moderate Rebels: A Growing List of Vetted Groups Fielding BGM-71 TOW Anti-Tank Guided Missiles". Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  28. ↑ "Ten brigades and battalions of the FSA join Jaysh al Mujahideen • /r/syriancivilwar".
  29. ↑ Chris Tomson AlMasdar (23 May 2016). "Free Syrian Army factions in northern Aleppo merge to Jaish al-Mujahideen" – via YouTube.

External links

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