| Jama'at Ansar al-Furqan in Bilad al Sham | |
|---|---|
| جماعة أنصار الفرقان في بلاد الشام | |
 Logo used by the group | |
| Leaders | Hamza bin Laden †(allegedly)[1][unreliable source?] Abu Julaybib †[2][3][4][unreliable source?] |
| Dates of operation | 9 October 2017–November 2017 |
| Groups | FormerJaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar,Jabhat al-Nusra, andISIL elements[5] |
| Ideology | IslamismAnti-communism |
| Allies |  al-Qaeda |
| Opponents |  Georgia Turkey Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army[2] Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Russia Syria United States United Kingdom Shiite militias[6][7] |
| Battles and wars | Syrian Civil War |
Preceded by Taliban Shamya[8] | |
Jama'at Ansar al-Furqan in Bilad al Sham (Arabic:جماعة أنصار الفرقان في بلاد الشام; lit. "Supporters of the Criterion in the Levant") was an armedjihadist group that was active in Syria which was established in the fall of 2017 by former members ofJaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar.[5] The group was reportedly led by the son of al-Qaeda's founderOsama bin Laden,Hamza bin Laden.[1][9]
In the group's charter it claimed to be at war with the government ofBashar al-Assad,Turkey, theTurkish-backed Free Syrian Army,Russia,Shias andatheists. The charter also outlined the group's opposition to bothdemocratic andcommunist governments and opposition to the various current Arab governments, most of whom aresecular.[7] The group had called upon various jihadist factions to unite and focus on fighting common enemies and had recruited many veteran jihadist fighters from such groups in Syria.[1][unreliable source?] The group also reportedly had a large number of veteran al-Qaeda fighters from theArabian Peninsula andSouth Asia.[10]
After the group's formation,Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) arrested the group's leadership in November 2017, as well asSami al-Oraydi, who left HTS and was formerly al-Nusra's top Sharia official. After the arrests, Ansar al-Furqan and HTS agreed not to weaken or compete with each other, until the later establishment ofHurras al-Din led by several HTS defectors and al-Qaeda loyalists including al-Oraydi.[11]
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