Al-Nusra Front
Al-Nusra Front,[a] also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant,[b] was a Salafi jihadist organization fighting against Syrian government forces in the Syrian Civil War. Its aim was to overthrow president Bashar al-Assad and establish an Islamic state ruled by Sharia law in Syria.[36]
Al-Nusra Front
Abu Mohammad al-Julani (top emir)[1]
Abu Abdullah al-Shami (senior member)
Ahmad Salama Mabruk † (senior member)
Abu Hajer al-Homsi † (top military commander)[2]
Abu Omar al-Turkistani † (top military commander)[3]
28 January 2017
- Deir ez-Zor, Deir ez-Zor Governorate, (2012–2014)[6][7]
- Harem, Idlib Governorate, (February–November 2014)[8]
- Salqin, Idlib Governorate, (November 2014 – March 2015)[9]
- Idlib, Idlib Governorate, Syria (March 2015 – January 2017)[10]
10,000 (2017)
al-Qaeda (until 2016)
Mujahideen Shura Council (2014–2015)[17]
Army of Conquest (2015–2017)[18]
State allies
Non-state allies
Jund al-Aqsa
Caucasus Emirate
Turkistan Islamic Party
Ajnad al-Kavkaz[22]- Malhama Tactical
- Ashida'a Mujahideen Brigade
- Ansar al-Din Front[23]
Ansar al-Islam[24]
Free Syrian Army (occasionally)[25][26]
Ahrar al-Sham (until 2017)
State opponents
Non-state opponents
- Certain Syrian rebel groups
- Free Syrian Army (some militias)
Palestine Liberation Army
UNDOF- Syrian Democratic Forces
Shi'ite groups
Hezbollah[28]- Kata'ib Hezbollah
- Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq
- Al-Abbas brigade
- Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada[29]
Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba[30]
Islamic State and Islamic State affiliates
- Battle of Aleppo (2012–16)
- Siege of Nubl and Al-Zahraa
- Quneitra Governorate clashes (2012–2014)
- Operation al-Shabah
- 2013 Latakia offensive[23]
- Inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian Civil War
- Al-Otaiba ambush
- 2014 Idlib offensive
- al-Nusra Front–Syria Revolutionaries Front conflict[34]
- 2015 Idlib offensive (Second Battle of Idlib[18])
- Siege of al-Fu'ah and Kafriya
- Battle of Bosra (2015)[35]
- 2015 Jisr al-Shughur offensive
- Battle of Yarmouk Camp (2015)
- Qalamoun offensive (May 2015)
- Battle of Zabadani (2015)
- 2015 Hama Offensive
- Northern Aleppo offensive (2016)
- Idlib Governorate clashes (2017) Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon
- Battle of Arsal (2014) Military intervention against ISIL
- American-led intervention in Syria
- Russian military intervention in Syria
Formed in 2012, in November of that year The Washington Post described al-Nusra as "the most aggressive and successful" of the rebel forces.[37] While secular and pro-democratic rebel groups of the Syrian Revolution such as the Free Syrian Army were focused on ending the decades-long reign of Assad family, al-Nusra Front also sought the unification of Islamist forces in a post-Assad Syria, anticipating a new stage of the civil war. It denounced the international assistance in support of the Syrian opposition as "imperialism"; viewing it as a long-term threat to its Islamist goals in Syria.[36]
In December 2012, US Department of State designated it as a "foreign terrorist organization".[38] In April 2013, Al-Nusra Front was publicly confirmed as the official Syrian affiliate of al-Qaeda,[39] after Emir Ayman al-Zawahiri rejected the forced merger attempted by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and ordered the dissolution of newly-formed Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.[40] In March 2015, the militia joined other Syrian Islamist groups to form a joint command center called the Army of Conquest.[41] In July 2016, al-Nusra formally re-designated itself from Jabhat al-Nusra to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ("Front for the Conquest of the Levant") and officially announced that it was breaking ties with Al-Qaeda.[42][43]
The announcement caused defections of senior Al-Nusra commanders and criticism from al-Qaeda ranks, provoking a harsh rebuke from Ayman al-Zawahiri, who denounced it as an "act of disobedience".[44] On 28 January 2017, following violent clashes with Ahrar al-Sham and other rebel groups, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (JFS) merged with four other groups to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a new Sunni Islamist militant group.[45] Tahrir al-Sham denies any links to the al-Qaeda network and said in a statement that the group is "an independent entity and not an extension of previous organizations or factions".[46] Mutual hostilities eventually deteriorated into one of violent confrontations, with Al-Nusra commander Sami al-Oraydi accusing HTS of adopting nationalist doctrines. Sami al-Oraydi, alongside other Al-Qaeda loyalists like Abu Humam al-Shami, Abu Julaybib and others, mobilised Al-Qaeda personnel in northwestern Syria to establish an anti-HTS front in north-western Syria, eventually forming Hurras al-Din on 27 February 2018.[47][48][44]
Structure[edit]
Leadership[edit]
The leader of al-Nusra, a self-proclaimed emir, goes by the name of Abu Mohammad al-Julani (also transliterated as Mohammed and al-Jawlani, or al-Golani), which implies that he is from the Golan Heights (al-Jawlan, in Arabic).[36] Prior to the formation of Jabhat al-Nusra, Abu Mohammad al-Julani was a senior member of Islamic State of Iraq, heading operations in Nineveh Governorate.[79] On 18 December 2013, he gave his first television interview, to Tayseer Allouni, a journalist originally from Syria, for Al Jazeera, and spoke classical Arabic with a Syrian accent.[80]
History[edit]
Origin[edit]
Upon the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, Islamic State of Iraq's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and al-Qaeda's central command authorized the Syrian Abu Mohammad al-Golani to set up a Syrian offshoot of al Qaeda in August 2011, to bring down the Assad government and establish an Islamic state there. Golani and six colleagues crossed the border from Iraq into Syria, and reached out to Islamists released from Syria's Sednaya military prison in May–June 2011 who were already active in fighting against Assad's security forces. The six men who founded Nusra alongside Julani were Saleh al-Hamawi (Syrian), Abu Maria Al-Qahtani (Iraqi), Mustafa Abd al-Latif al-Saleh (kunya:Abu Anas al-Sahaba) (Jordanian/Palestinian), Iyad Tubasi (kunya: Abu Julaybib) (Jordanian/Palestinian), Abu Omar al-Filistini (Palestinian) and Anas Hassan Khattab (Syria).[49][36][99]
A number of meetings were held between October 2011 and January 2012 in Rif Dimashq and Homs, where the objectives of the group were determined.[36] Golani's group formally announced itself under the name "Jabhat al-Nusra l'Ahl as-Sham" (Support Front for the People of the Sham) on 23 January 2012.[36][99]
Iraq's deputy interior minister said in early February 2012 that weapons and Islamist militants were entering Syria from Iraq.[100]
The Quilliam Foundation reported that many of Nusra's members were Syrians who were part of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Islamist network fighting the 2003 American invasion in Iraq;[36] Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari agreed to that in 2012.[101] The British The Daily Telegraph stated in December 2012 that many foreign al-Nusra fighters were hardened veterans from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.[54]
Strength in 2012[edit]
By the second half of 2012, Jabhat al-Nusra stood out among the array of armed groups emerging in Syria as a disciplined and effective fighting force.[99]
Nusra in October 2012 refused a call for a four-day ceasefire in Syria during Eid al-Adha feast.[102]
In November 2012, they were considered by The Huffington Post to be the best trained and most experienced fighters among the Syrian rebels.[103]
According to spokesmen of a moderate wing of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Nusra had in November 2012 between 6,000 and 10,000 fighters, accounting for 7–9% of the FSA's total fighters.[37] Commentator David Ignatius for The Washington Post described Nusra then as the most aggressive and successful arm of the FSA.[37]
The United States Department of State stated likewise: "From the reports we get from the doctors, most of the injured and dead FSA are Jabhat al-Nusra, due to their courage and [the fact they are] always at the front line".[37]
On 10 December 2012, the U.S. designated Nusra a foreign terrorist organization and an alias of Al Qaeda in Iraq. That decision made it illegal for Americans to deal financially with Nusra. Days earlier, the American ambassador to Syria, R. Ford, had said: "Extremist groups like Jabhat al-Nusra are a problem, an obstacle to finding the political solution that Syria's going to need".[104]