SUMMARY
Liwa al-Aqsa (al-Aqsa Brigade, named for the mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam) was a Salafi-jihadist rebel group that participated in the Syrian Civil War as a part of the Syrian insurgents. Their aim was to create an Islamic state that would transcend the borders of Syria. It was formerly known as Jund al-Aqsa between 2014-2017, and Sarayat al-Quds from its founding in 2012 as a subunit of al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (then known as al-Nusra Front). Liwa al-Aqsa left Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in September 2013 to become an independent group. The splinter decision was a result of their unwillingness to fight IS (at the time known as ISIS). On 7 February 2017, it renamed itself Liwa al-Aqsa. On 22 February 2017, Liwa al-Aqsa joined IS, which it had cooperated with since 2016, and thus ceased to exist as an independent organization.
Liwa al-Aqsa was known as an effective fighting force which was central to several insurgent victories against the regime, such as the capture of Idlib town in March 2015 and Morek town in November 2015. The group was known to target civilian populations, especially religious minorities. Its main areas of activity was in western and northern Syria, in particular in Idlib and Hamah Governorates, where it jointly administered territory alongside other Islamist groups. Its headquarters was found in Idlib city 2015-2017 and in Khan Shaykhun town from 2017.
Liwa al-Aqsa also fought other rebel groups on several occasions, though it repeatedly refused to fight IS, whom it considered to be “brothers and allies”, despite considerable pressure from other groups to do so. In late 2014, Liwa al-Aqsa joined Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in eliminating SRF, thus supporting their bid to make Idlib into an Islamic Emirate. In October 2016, they fought with Ahrar al-Sham, which accused Liwa al-Aqsa of being an IS sleeper-cell. The fighting subsided after Liwa al-Aqsa’s Emir pledged allegiance to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, though significant portions of Liwa al-Aqsa rejected the merger and continued to target Ahrar al-Sham whilst under Jabhat Fateh al-Sham’s protection. This led Jabhat Fateh al-Sham to declare that the conditions for merger hadn’t been fulfilled as clashes escalated again in January 2017, though portions of Liwa al-Aqsa splintered to rejoin Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. Jabhat Fateh al-Sham thereafter formed Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and themselves began fighting Liwa al-Aqsa, which they now also accused of being aligned with IS. On 22 February 2017, Liwa al-Aqsa officially pledged allegiance to IS. It was soon thereafter forced to relocate from Idlib and Hamah governorates to IS-stronghold Raqqah under a deal with HTS.
Although the majority of the members of the organization was composed of Syrians, a large proportion foreign fighters had also joined. In 2014, it was estimated to have around 1,000 fighters, of which about a third were foreign fighters. By late 2016, it had grown to around 1,500 fighters, under half of which were foreign fighters. In early 2017, it reportedly had 2,100 fighters which withdrew from Idlib and Hamah to Raqqah after having joined IS, despite having suffered from defections during the fighting.
Liwa al-Aqsa was formed by former al-Qaida fighter Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Qatari, also known as Mohammed Yusuf al-Athama, a Jordanian citizen of Palestinian descent, who led the group as the first Emir until his death in 2014. He was also one of the co-founders of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in 2012. Other important leaders were Said Arif and Abu Musab (also known as Ammar al-Jabor), both veteran al-Qaida who were killed in 2015, the former was killed in a US airstrike and the latter in clashes with the regime. Abu Dhar al-Najdi al-Harthi, a Saudi Arabian citizen, thereafter served as the group's Emir. Liwa al-Aqsa allegedly received funding from financiers from the Gulf States.
Liwa al-Aqsa has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organized violence. It is also considered part of the Syrian insurgents active in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organized violence.
