| Ajnad al-Sham | |
|---|---|
| أجناد الشام | |
 TheBlack Standard used by Ajnad al-Sham | |
| Leaders | |
| Dates of operation | November 2013 – 28 April 2017[6] |
| Groups | |
| Active regions | Idlib Governorate[4] Hama Governorate[9] |
| Ideology | SunniIslamism |
| Part of | Army of Conquest(2015–2017)[11] Tahrir al-Sham(Jan.-Jun. 2017; Nov. 2017-Jan. 2025) Ahrar al-Sham(Jun.-Nov. 2017) |
| Allies |  Ahrar al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham Al-Qaeda[10] |
| Opponents |  Syria Russia Hezbollah Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba[12] |
| Wars | theSyrian Civil War |
| Designated as a terrorist group by |  Malaysia[13] |
TheAjnad al-Sham (Arabic:أجناد الشام, Soldiers of the Levant) was an independent Idlib and Hama-based rebel group active during theSyrian Civil War. The group is named afterAjnad al-Sham. It joined theArmy of Conquest on 24 March 2015 and took part in theSecond Battle of Idlib.[11] On 29 March 2014, it announced that its military leader, Abu Abdullah Taoum, was killed during clashes around al-Fouaa.
On 5 November 2015, during the2nd Northwestern Syria offensive, Ajnad al-Sham militants in theHama Governorate killed and beheaded an unnamedSyrian Army Brigadier general and placed his head in a bin.[9][16] They posted a picture of it onFacebook andTwitter where fellow militants praised this execution and labelled the Brigadier general with derogatory slogans like "Nusayri" - a term forAlawites.[9]
In May 2016, a statement by the group threatened to retaliate against government forces if demands related to aprison riot inHama were not met.[17] On 5 May, as part of theSouthern Aleppo campaign, members of Ajnad al Sham,Al Nusra Front and theFree Syrian Army assaulted the village ofKhan Tuman, leaving 43 assailants (including suicide bombers), 30 Syrian and Iranian soldiers and other 21 wounded.[18][19]
In June, Ajnad al-Sham along with more rebel groups led a new jihadist assault in the southern Aleppo countryside, targeting the villages of Khalsah and Zeitain, controlled pro-government forces, leaving near 86 soldiers killed. The rebels initially captured Zeytan, whilst heavy fighting continued in Khalsah.[20][failed verification][21][failed verification] The group continued its armed campaign in the next months.[22] The incident most notorious was the attack with Hamdaniyeh neighborhood, which left three civilians killed and other twelve wounded.[23][failed verification][24][failed verification]
In February 2017, duringclashes betweenAhrar al-Sham,Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the ISIL affiliatedJund al-Aqsa, the pro-oppositionSyrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Ajnad al-Sham came under attack from fighters from Jund al-Aqsa at their headquarters along with Saraya al-Ghuraba another Jihadist group, and during the attack, Jund al-Aqsa reportedly seized weapons and vehicles from Ajnad al-Sham and Saraya al-Ghuraba.[25]
On 18 June 2017, after joining Hayat Tahrir al-Sham the group left HTS instead joining Ahrar al-Sham,[26] before rejoining HTS later in November 2017.[27]
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