Jund al-Aqsa (Arabic: جند الأقصى Jund al-‘Aqṣā, "Soldiers of al-Aqsa"), later known as Liwa al-Aqsa after 7 February 2017,[22][7] was a Salafist jihadist organization that was active during the Syrian Civil War.[9] Formerly known as Sarayat al-Quds, the group was founded by Abu Abdul 'Aziz al-Qatari as a subunit within the al-Nusra Front.[10] The group later became independent, because al-Nusra was growing too rapidly for its resources and had suffered from fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.[10] On 20 September 2016 the U.S. Department of State designated Jund al-Aqsa as a terrorist organization.[23] The group rejoined al-Nusra Front, by then renamed Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), in October 2016.[4] However, on 23 January 2017, JFS declared that Jund Al-Aqsa was no longer part of Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham.[24][25] In early February 2017, some of Jund al-Aqsa's units joined the newly formed Tahrir al-Sham, while the others refused and formed a new splinter group called Liwa al-Aqsa, and captured many towns in northern Hama and southern Idlib from other rebel groups. Following these attacks, Tahrir al-Sham launched a military operation against Liwa al-Aqsa, accusing them of being an ISIL affiliate.[26] Following intense clashes with Tahrir al-Sham, up to 2,100 Liwa al-Aqsa militants left Idlib Province to join ISIL in Raqqa Province, by 22 February 2017.[7]
speak out
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search