SUMMARY

The Authenticity and Development Front (Jabhat Asala wa-Tanmiya) was an alliance of around twenty factions, originally formed in November 2012, at which time it had around 5,000 fighters. Its main areas of operation was Aleppo, Deir ez Zor and Rif Dimashq. In 2014 it suffered major blows by being forced out of Deir ez Zor by IS (see IS - Mujahideen Shura Council), though portions of Authenticity and Development Front covertly remained behind in the province as a military formation known as the White Shroud (Al-Kafn Al-Abyad), which conducted targeted assassinations of IS members in the area between Albu Kamal town and Deir ez Zor city (Authenticity and Development Front - IS. Most of the Authenticity and Development Front fled Deir ez Zor and set up in other areas, mainly in the Qalamoun mountains of Rif Dimashq and Aleppo, where they fought IS in other constellations (e.g. Eastern Qalamoun Operations Room – IS and Fatah Halab – IS). During the 2014 offensive against IS, its major Aleppo branch, Nour al-Din al-Zenki movement, fought as part of Mujahideen Army and later defected. Its largest Rif Dimashq group, Jaysh Usud al-Sharqiya, left the Front in December 2015.

Authenticity and Development Front was led by Gulf-based Salafist preacher Khaled al-Hamad, who was reportedly close to Saudi Arabia, which supported the alliance financially. The Authenticity and Development Front also reportedly cooperated with the United States in its train and equip program. Khaled al-Hamad described the group’s ideology as a “moderate Salafi approach”.

Authenticity and Development Front 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 during the Syrian civil war.