The Army of Mujahideen (Arabic: جيش المجاهدين, Jaysh al-Mujahideen) was a Sunni Islamist rebel group formed in order to fight the Syrian government and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during the Syrian Civil War.^[18] Originally a coalition of several Islamist rebel groups, it accused ISIL of disrupting "security and stability" in areas that had been captured from the Syrian government.^[19] During its establishment in January 2014, the spokesperson of the coalition said it would start operations in Idlib and Aleppo and gradually expand towards the rest of Syria.^[5] In December 2016, the Army of Mujahideen was briefly reorganized as Jabhat Ahl al-Sham (Arabic: جبهة أهل الشام; Front of the People of the Levant), but this formation soon fell apart during rebel infighting in January 2017.

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Quick Facts Mujahideen Army, Leaders ...

Mujahideen Army
Arabic: جيش المجاهدين Jaysh al-Mujahideen
Logo of the Army of Mujahideen
Leaders	Lt. Col. Muhammad Juma Abdul Qader Bakur ("Abu Bakr")[1] Capt. Muhammad Shakerdi[2] Salim Abu Jaafar[3] Hammoud al-Barm †[4]
Dates of operation	2 January 2014 – 25 January 2017[5]
Active regions	Aleppo Governorate, Syria
Ideology	Sunni Islamism[6]
Size	5,000+[7]–12,000[8] (own claim, 2014) 4,000 (own claim, May 2016)[9] 8,000[10] (December 2016, Russian military claim)
Part of	Free Syrian Army (2016–17) Syrian Revolutionary Command Council (2014–15)[11] Levant Front (2014–15)[12][13] Fatah Halab (2015-2017)[14] Ahrar al-Sham (since 2017)[15]
Allies	Syria Revolutionaries Front Levant Front Sham Legion Suqour al-Sham Brigade Ahrar al-Sham Al-Nusra Front (until 2017)
Opponents	Syrian Armed Forces  Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant[16] Syrian Democratic Forces Al-Nusra Front (2017) Syrian Revolutionaries Front[17]
Battles and wars	Syrian Civil War Inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian Civil War Battle of Aleppo (2012–16) Aleppo offensive (October 2015) 2016 Aleppo summer campaign Aleppo offensive (October–November 2016) Al-Nusra Front–SRF/Hazzm Movement conflict

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The Army of Mujahideen did not have a political program. Although the member groups have an Islamist identity, they were largely non-ideological Free Syrian Army affiliated groups formed earlier in the Syrian Civil War.^[20]

The factions which formed the Army of Mujahideen largely emerged from the villages and towns of the Aleppo hinterland.^[20][21] The three groups at the core of the alliance were Division 19, the Fastaqim Union and the Nour al-Din al-Zanki Islamic Brigades, which was also then part of the Authenticity and Development Front.^[20]

In March 2014, members of one of its component groups, the Fastaqim Union, stopped Marcell Shehwaro, a Syrian Christian opposition activist, and demanded her to wear a hijab. She refused and was arrested, taken to a Sharia court, and forced to sign an agreement pledging to wear the hijab. An Army of Mujahideen commander issued a statement apologizing for its fighters' violent actions, but the ruling requiring Shehwaro to wear a hijab still stood.^[22]

On 4 May 2014, the Army of Mujahideen announced the withdrawal of the Nour al-Din al-Zanki Islamic Brigades from the coalition.^[23] On 3 June 2014, the Army of Mujahideen announced the expulsion of Division 19's Ansar Brigade and its leader, Abu Bakr, accusing them of theft and kidnapping.^[24]

Charles Lister, of the Brookings Doha Center, described the Army of Mujahideen as being a shadow of its former self by August 2014, partially due to a reduction in support it had received from foreign states.^[25] Fastaqim Kama Umirt left the group around December 2014.^[13]

In September 2014, the United States began planning weapon supplies to the group,^[26] and in the same month, fifty of the group's fighters were given military training in Qatar and supplied with BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles in a covert CIA program.^[27]

On 6 May 2015, it, along with 13 other Aleppo-based groups, joined the Fatah Halab joint operations room.^[14]

It announced its support to Turkey against the Kurdistan Workers Party. It also fights the Syrian Democratic Forces in Aleppo.^[28]

Several factions of the group, including the al-Noor Islamic Movement, the Amjad al-Islam Brigade, and the al-Quds Brigades left to join the Revolutionaries of the Levant Battalions in April 2015.^[29]

In December 2016, the Army of Mujahideen re-merged with Thuwar al-Sham Battalion and the Banner of Islam Movement to form Jabhat Ahl al-Sham.^[30]

On 23 January 2017, the al-Nusra Front attacked Jabhat Ahl al-Sham bases in Atarib and other towns in western Aleppo. All the bases were captured and by 24 January, the group was defeated and joined Ahrar al-Sham.^[15]

• Army of Mujahideen
  • 19th Division
    • Ansar Brigade
    • Supporters of the Caliphate Brigade(denied by group)
    • Khan al-Asal Free Brigades
    • Ash-Shuyukh Brigade
    • Muhajireen Brigade^[2]
  • Farouq Battalion
  • 5th Battalion
  • Revolutionaries of Atarib Gathering
  • Atarib Martyrs Brigade
  • Battalion of the Martyr Alaa al-Ahmad
  • Central Force for the City of Atarib
  • Ansar al-Haqq Battalion
  • Loyalty to God Battalion
  • Shells of Justice Brigade

• Nour al-Din al-Zenki Islamic Battalions
  • Levant Revolutionaries Battalions^[31]
    • al-Quds Brigades
    • Glory of Islam Brigade
    • al-Noor Islamic Movement
  • Banners of Islam Movement^[31]
• Fastaqim Union
• Azadî Battalion
• Liwa Jund al-Haramain (Formerly part of the 19th Division, later joined the Syrian Democratic Forces.)^[32]

• List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War