Ansar al-Sham

Kata'ib Ansar al-Sham (Arabic: كتائب أنصار الشام‎, Supporters of the Levant Battalions) is an armed Sunni Islamist rebel group active in the Syrian Civil War, mainly fighting against Syrian government forces.[4]

Not to be confused with Ansar al-Islam in Syria, also called Ansar al-Sham.
Kata'ib Ansar al-Sham
Supporters of the Levant Battalions[1]
Arabic: كتائب أنصار الشام‎
Participant in the Syrian Civil War

Ansar al-Sham Logo
Flag of Ansar al-Sham[2]
ActiveSeptember 2012[3] – present
IdeologySunni Islamism[4]
Group(s)al-Zahir Baybars Battalion[5]
LeadersAbu Omar al-Jamil
(overall leader)
Abu Musa al-Shishani
(military commander)[3]
HeadquartersJabal al-Akrad, Latakia Governorate[5]
Area of operationsLatakia Governorate[6]
Idlib Governorate[1]
Size2,500[5] (March 2014)
Part of Syrian Islamic Front
Islamic Front
Jaysh al-Islam[7] (December 2016–January 2017, branch part of Ahrar al-Sham since January 2017)
Tahrir al-Sham (February 2017–August 2018)[8]
Allies Free Syrian Army
Junud al-Sham
Jund al-Aqsa
Sham Legion
Ajnad al-Kavkaz
Ajnad ash-Sham
Jaysh al-Sunna
Tahrir al-Sham (Sometimes)
Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria (Sometimes)
Opponent(s) Syria
 Russia
 Iran
Hezbollah
Syrian Resistance
Syrian Social Nationalist Party
Tahrir al-Sham (Sometimes)
Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria (Sometimes)
Battles and war(s)Syrian Civil War

Background

Founded in September 2012 by a Latakian veteran of the Soviet–Afghan War known as Abu Omar al-Jamil, Ansar al-Sham brought together a wide range of mostly Syrian fighters in northern Latakia Governorate on a conservative Sunni Islamist platform. The group's military leader is a Chechen known as Abu Musa al-Shishani. As of March 2014, Ansar al-Sham fighters each receive a $60 salary every month.[5] The group primary recruits local Syrians but is also open to foreign fighters willing to join the group, most of its members have been described as a mix of Syrian Army defectors, shopkeepers, and farmers. The group also allegedly received funding from Saudi Arabia, however in 2015 Saudi Arabia considered listing the group as a terrorist organization. During the 2014 Latakia offensive the Free Syrian Army reportedly gave the group $500,000 to support the group.

Ideology

The group has the goal of overthrowing the Syrian Government and establishing an Islamic state in its place, though the group does have an Islamist ideology it has been described as vague compared to other factions in the country including allies of the group such as Ahrar al-Sham. The vagueness of the group's ideology has helped it recruit Sunni Syrians from several backgrounds with wide ranges of beliefs.[11]

Relations with other groups

According to one of the group's commanders it does not work directly with the Free Syrian Army, but cooperates with FSA commanders on local levels when needed, and it does not fight against the FSA either. Many commanders of the group condemned the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant for one of its commanders killing an FSA commander that the group was allied with, and also held tensions with ISIL, however the group did not cut ties with ISIL, as many members of Ansar al-Sham had familial ties to ISIL members in Latakia and many ISIL members in the area were former Ansar al-Sham members. After the incident in which the ISIL commander known as Abu Ayman al-Iraqi killed the FSA commander, Ansar al-Sham's military commander Abu Musa al-Shishani along with Muslim Shishani the leader of Junud al-Sham, and Sayfullakh Shishani a commander in Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar helped mediate the tensions between the FSA and ISIL preventing an armed confrontation between the two in late 2013.[12]

Ansar al-Sham also held good relations with the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra and favored its approach of overthrowing the Syrian government before establishing an Islamic government in contrast to ISIL's approach. Along with having positive ties to al-Nusra the group also held a good relationship with Harakat Sham al-Islam which was composed Moroccan fighters, and another group known as the Ansar al-Mujahedin Battalion.[13]

History

In December 2012, Ansar al-Sham joined with other Sunni Islamist and Salafist groups to found the Syrian Islamic Front umbrella organisation,[14] in November 2013 the SIF was dissolved and Liwa al-Haqq, Ansar al-Sham and Ahrar ash-Sham joined the broader Islamic Front alliance.[4]

Ansar al-Sham played a lead role in the 2014 Latakia offensive against government forces.[3]

On 15 December 2016, the group declared that it decided to completely merge under Jaysh al-Islam's Idlib branch.[7] On 25 January 2017, Jaysh al-Islam's Idlib branch joined Ahrar al-Sham, thus Ansar al-Sham also joined.[15]

On 7 February 2017, Ansar al-Sham defected from Ahrar al-Sham to join Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).[8]

At dawn on 23 August 2018, Tahrir al-Sham and Turkistan Islamic Party fighters raided Ansar al-Sham's headquarters and positions in the northern Latakia mountains and the countryside west of Jisr al-Shughur. Clashes took place and Ansar al-Sham commanders refused to fight, handing over their headquarters, which contained a large amount of weapons and ammunition, to HTS.[16]

gollark: I IKR, right?
gollark: Well, it's not *recursing*, but heavpoot just sent a name which made it send another name.
gollark: Hmm. The bridge seems to have hit ratelimits.
gollark: So any issues will at least be finite.
gollark: I'm *pretty* sure it's impossible to have a quine with this at least?

See also
  • List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War

References
  1. Sinjab, Lina (17 October 2013). "Syria crisis: Guide to armed and political opposition". BBC. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  2. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/u68lUz6GA24/hqdefault.jpg
  3. "Rebels Reopen the Latakia Front". Institute for the Study of War. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  4. "A Power Move by Syria's Rebel Forces". Institute for the Study of War. 22 November 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  5. Tam Hussein (24 March 2014). "The Ansar al-Sham Battalions". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  6. Aaron Y. Zelin (4 February 2013). "The Syrian Islamic Front: A New Extremist Force". The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  7. "استجابة للمطالب الشعبية.. "أنصار الشام" تندمج بـ"جيش الإسلام" - شبكة بلدي الإعلامية". Baladi News Network. 15 December 2016. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  8. "New statement from Hayy'at Taḥrīr al-Shām: "Katā'ib Anṣār al-Shām Joins Hayy'at Taḥrīr al-Shām"". Jihadology. February 7, 2017.
  9. "Regime Regains Ground on the Coast". Institute for the Study of War. 22 August 2013. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  10. "Syrie: combats féroces autour d'un point de passage avec la Turquie". AFP. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  11. https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/531#cite21
  12. http://www.chechensinsyria.com/?p=26193#more-26193
  13. https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/55066
  14. "The Syrian Islamic Front: A New Extremist Force". Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 19 May 2014.
  15. "هادي العبدالله Hadi on Twitter".
  16. "Liberation Sham attacking a military faction in the coast and take over his headquarters". STEP News Agency. 23 August 2018. Archived from the original on 23 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
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