top of page

JIHADIST GROUPS

Radical Islamist groups began to make inroads in Syria in the second half of 2011. These groups have been variously described as Islamist, jihadist, and Salafist. They have capitalized on the sectarian narrative of the Syrian conflict: the Assad’s, an Alawite family, have systematically repressed the country’s Sunni majority while privileging Christians, Druze, and other non-Sunni, non-Muslim minorities. Alawites are considered by some to be a splintering from Shia Islam. The Assad regime has in turn justified its actions by classifying the opposition as a terrorist insurrection threatening an otherwise stable nation. The actions of both groups reinforce each other’s respective narrative of the conflict.

 

Although many groups initially varied in the intensity of their jihadist rhetoric and tactics, several key radical groups began to emerge:

 

Early jihadist heavyweight: Jabhat al-Nusra

 

Jabhat al-Nusra, otherwise known as al-Nusra front, emerged in Syria in January of 2012. Throughout 2012, the group displayed extreme tactics including the use of suicide bombers, garnering praise for the group on al-Qaeda forums. By the end of 2012, the group had risen to become the most prominent jihadist group in Syria. Washington labeled the group a terrorist organization in December 2012. This move was highly controversial among both the political and armed opposition, as al-Nusra front was key to several military victories for the opposition.

 

The birth of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant

 

In April of 2013, a contested move by neighboring the leader of neighboring jihadist group Islamic State in Iraq (ISI), sparked a transformation in dynamics among all armed groups in Syria. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISI, announced that Jabhat al-Nusra was an extension of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Al-Qaeda in Iraq was a major player in the Sunni insurgency against American-led forces after the 2003 invasion, and joined with several other insurgent groups to form ISI. Al-Baghdadi then declared a merger between the two organizations, dubbing the new organization “The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant” or “The Islamic State in Iraq and ash-Sham”, commonly referred to as ISIS.

 

The leader of Jabhat al-Nusra, Abu Muhammad al-Joulani, denied that any such merger had taken place, and pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda central. The leader of al-Qaeda central, Ayman al-Zawahiri, also denied the merger between the two organizations. Throughout spring and summer 2013, al-Baghdadi began recruiting troops from Jabhat al-Nusra. Finally, in February 2014, al-Qaeda broke off all relations with ISIS and disavowed its leadership. Following a series of tit-for-tat attacks between the two organizations, they began openly fighting in May 2014 in Syria’s northeastern Deir az-Zor province, eventually forcing Jabhat al-Nusra out.

 

ISIS has made headlines throughout the summer as it has taken over vast swathes of territory in Iraq. After capturing Mosul in June, ISIS began advancing on Baghdad. After approaching the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish area, Erbil, the US authorized airstrikes to prevent ISIS from threatening its personnel and from carrying out an imminent genocide against the Yezidis, an ancient Iraqi religious community considered apostates by ISIS.

bottom of page