Jund al-Aqsa

Jund al-Aqsa (Arabic: جند الأقصى; Liwa al-Aqsa after early 2017)^[21][22] was a Sunni Islamist jihadist militant group that fought in the Syrian Civil War.^[9] It used to be called Sarayat al-Quds and it was founded by Abu Abdulaziz al Qatari as a unit within the Al-Nusra Front.^[10] It later broke away from the Al-Nusra Front due to fighting with Daesh and became an independent group.^[10] On the 20th of September 2016, the United States called Jund al-Aqsa a terrorist group.^[23] The group decided to rejoin the Al-Nusra Front which was now called Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) in October 2016.^[4] However, JFS decided to remove Jund al-Aqsa from Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.^[24][25]

Jund al-Aqsa
جند الأقصى
Flag of Jund al-Aqsa Emblem of Jund al-Aqsa
Leaders	Abu Dhar al-Najdi al-Harethi[1] Abu Abdul Aziz al-Qatari †[2] Abu Musab al-Ansari † Said Arif †[3] Abu Diab al-Sarmini[4] (formerly)[5]
Dates of operation	January 2014 – 22 February 2017
Group(s)	Ansar ut-Turkistan (formerly)[6]
Headquarters	Sarmin, Idlib Governorate, Syria (2015–17)[3] Khan Shaykhun, Idlib Governorate, Syria (Feb. 2017)[7][8]
Active regions	Hama Governorate, Syria Idlib Governorate, Syria[9] Aleppo Governorate, Syria[10]
Ideology	Salafist jihadism[11]
Size	1,000+ (2014)[10] 600 (2015)[12] 800 (before October 2016)[13][14] 1,600 (late 2016)[14][better source needed] 2,100 (February 2017)[15][better source needed]
Part of	Muhajirin wa-Ansar Alliance (2014–2015)[9] Army of Conquest (2015–2017)[16] al-Qaeda (2014–17) Al-Nusra Front (2014 & 2016–2017)
Allies	Islamic State Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria Jaysh al-Sunna[17][better source needed]
Opponents	State opponents Ba'athist Syria Iran Russia United States[3] Non-State Opponents Ahrar al-Sham Suqour al-Sham Brigade Sham Legion Free Syrian Army Tahrir al-Sham
Battles and wars	Syrian Civil War Inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian Civil War 2014 Hama offensive 2014 Idlib offensive Al-Nusra Front–SRF/Hazzm Movement conflict Second Battle of Idlib[18] Insurgency in Idlib 2015 Hama offensive 2016 Khanasir offensive 2016 Hama offensive October 2016 Idlib Governorate clashes Idlib Governorate clashes (2017) Military intervention against ISIL American-led intervention in Syria Russian military intervention in Syria
Preceded by Sarayat al-Quds (part of al-Nusra Front) Succeeded by  Islamic State (Majority joined in February 2017) Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria (some factions joined in February 2017) Guardians of Religion (some factions joined in April 2018)[19][better source needed] Ansar al-Tawhid (formed by some factions in march 2018)[20]

Other websites

• Jund al-Aqsa's YouTube Channel (in Arabic)

^{[7] [8]}