Jaysh al-Jihad

LeadersAbu Mussab Al-FanussyDates of operationFebruary 2015^[1] – 21 May 2016HeadquartersAl-Qahtaniyah, Quneitra^[1]Active regionsQuneitra Governorate and Daraa Governorate, Syria^[1]IdeologySalafi JihadismSize500^[1]Part of Islamic State (allegedly)AlliesYarmouk Martyrs BrigadeOpponents

• Syrian Armed Forces
• National Defense Force
• Ahrar ash-Sham^[2]
• Southern Front^[3]
• al-Nusra Front^[4]
• Jaysh al-Islam^[5]

Battles and warsSyrian Civil War

• Inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian Civil War

Jaysh al-Jihad (Jihad Army) was an Islamist rebel group based in Quneitra Governorate. The group formed from the merger of 7 small independent groups and factions that defected from Nusra Front after it clashed with the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade in December 2014. These groups were: Jihad Brigades, Jamaat Jund al-Islam, Jamaat Abu Baseer, Mujahideen of al-Sham movement, Jamaat Shabab Ahl al-Sunnah, Nurayn Brigade, and Jamaat Bunyan al-Marsous.^[1]

The group had been accused by other Syrian rebel groups of being affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).^[6][7] In April 2015, violent clashes broke out between the group and the Free Syrian Army and al-Nusra Front, after Jaish al-Jihad militants ambushed and killed six FSA fighters at a checkpoint in Quneitra.^[8] By 6 May 2015, Nusra and other rebel groups announced that they had cleared al-Qahtaniyah and Quneitra city of Jaysh al-Jihad forces.^[1]

In May 2016, remnants of Jaysh al-Jihad joined with two other Pro-ISIL factions in Southern Syria, the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade and Islamic Muthanna Movement, to form the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army.^[9]

See also

• List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War

References