Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement
The Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement (Arabic: حركة نور الدين الزنكي Ḥaraka Nūr ad-Dīn az-Zankī) was a Sunni Islamist rebel group involved in the Syrian Civil War. In 2014, it was reportedly one of the most influential factions in Aleppo,[22] especially the Western Aleppo countryside. Between 2014 and 2015, it was part of the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council and recipient of U.S.-made BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles.[23] The Movement made multiple attempts to merge with the larger Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham but were refused by Ahrar al-Sham's leadership. The Zenki Movement also made attempts to merge with other Islamist factions, Jaysh al-Islam and the Sham Legion. However, all merging efforts with these groups failed, leading to the Zenki Movement joining the Salafi Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2017.[24] But after a few months the group left HTS and within a year went to war with HTS by joining the Turkish-backed Syrian Liberation Front alongside Ahrar al-Sham on 18 February 2018.[18] After a series of clashes in early 2019 Al Zenki were largely defeated by HTS, expelled to Afrin and absorbed in the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army.
Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement
Late 2011[1] – 25 March 2019
- Liwa Ahrar Souriya (former)
- Swords of Shahba Brigade (former)
- Northern Army (former)[6]
- Liwa Suyuf al-Sham (Greater Idlib area)[7]
- Banners of Islam Movement (former)[8][9]
- Levant Revolutionaries Battalion (former)[8][9]
- al-Quds Brigades
- Glory of Islam Brigade
- al-Noor Islamic Movement
- Abu Hassan Battalion
- Sheikh Osman Battalion
- Ansaruddin Battalion
- Humat al-Islam[10]
7,000 (2017)[11]
- Syrian Revolutionary Command Council (2014–late 2015)[12]
Levant Front (2014–15)[13]
Authenticity and Development Front (2013–14)[14]- Army of Mujahideen (2014–15)[15]
- Fatah Halab (2015–16)[16]
Army of Conquest (2016–17)[17]
Tahrir al-Sham (2017)[11]- Syrian Liberation Front (2018–19)
National Front for Liberation (2018-19)[18]
Saudi Arabia (until 2017)
Turkey
Qatar
United States (Until 2015)
Al-Nusra Front/
Tahrir al-Sham (2012–14, 2016–17)
Ahrar al-Sham
Liwa al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar[19]
Syria
Iran
Russia
Hezbollah
Syrian Democratic Forces
Sultan Murad Division (2017-2019)[20]
Levant Front (since late 2016) Army of Mujahideen (since late 2016) Al-Nusra Front/ Tahrir al-Sham (2015, since November 2017)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Hamza Division (Since 2017)
Foreign support[edit]
In May 2014 al-Zenki received increased financial support from Saudi Arabia after it withdrew from the Army of Mujahideen.[22] The group also received financial aid from the United States, in a CIA run program to support US-approved rebel groups,[28] reportedly via the Turkey-based Military Operation Centre (MOC).[54] However, by October 2015, the group claimed that it was no longer supplied by the MOC[55] – "because of regular reports that it had committed abuses."[56]
On 9 May 2016, a plan was reportedly proposed by the US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar to have the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement form a "Northern Army" to gather more than 3,000 fighters for the operation. The next phase will be to transfer the fighters from Idlib to northern Aleppo through the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing and the Azaz border crossing. This reportedly began on 13 May.[57] However, the plan was delayed due to doubts from U.S. officials about the capabilities of the Syrian rebel forces that Turkey had recruited to fight with its military, the opposition from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, and the rift between Turkey and Russia that had only been mended in early August 2016.[58]