SUMMARY
Jama’at Ansar al-Islam (“Supporters of Islam”) was an extremist Islamist and jihadist armed group that emerged in Egypt in 2017. The long-term goal of the group was to overthrow the Government of Egypt, and to establish a Caliphate ruled by Sharia (Islamic law); the group’s more proximate objective was to damage the Egyptian regime as punishment for its perceived mistreatment of the Egyptian people. Jama’at Ansar al-Islam also claimed that the Government of Egypt, at the time led by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, was an enemy of Islam.
Jama’at Ansar al-Islam officially announced its existence in mid-November 2017, when it confirmed its involvement in clashes with Egyptian security forces a few weeks earlier. However, relatively few details were known regarding the exact origins of the group. The group likely emerged after Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, another Egyptian extremist Islamist group, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in November 2014 and became its “Wilayat Sinai” (Sinai Province). At the time, a notorious Egyptian militant called Hesham Ashmawy (alias Abu-Umar al-Muhajir) served as one of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis’s operational commanders. Ashmawy, a former member of Egypt’s elite Saiqa (“Thuderbolt”) Special Forces unit, refused to pledge himself to IS for ideological reasons, as he was a staunch supporter of al-Qaida. Instead, Ashmawy left Wilayat Sinai and created his own al-Qaida-loyal group called “al-Mourabitoun” in 2015 (not to be confused with the Mali-based al-Murabitun). While the connection between this group and Jama’at Ansar al-Islam remained unclear, Ashmawy then most likely set up Jama’at Ansar al-Islam at some point between 2015 and October 2017, when it conducted its first attack. As such, it was not known whether al-Mourabitoun was a direct precursor of Jama’at Ansar al-Islam, or if the latter was an entirely new group.
While most sources indicated that Ashmawy was the central figure of the Jama’at Ansar al-Islam, it should be noted that not all sources agree that he was the founder-leader of the group. It has for example been suggested that Ashmawy just assisted Jama’at Ansar al-Islam by sharing his operational expertise, and that he was not part of the group itself. Abu Hatem Emad al-Din Abd al-Hamid was another prominent Jama’at Ansar al-Islam commander, until he was killed in an Egyptian airstrike in late October 2017. His exact position within the group was not clear, as some sources described him as the deputy of Ashmawy, while others claimed that he was in fact the group’s top leader. Like Ashmawy, al-Hamid was an ex-soldier and a former member of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis; reportedly, he left the Sinai-based militants for the same reasons as Ashmawy.
A standout characteristic of Jama’at Ansar al-Islam was its ability to recruit members who had been part of Egypt’s security forces. It was suggested that many of its rank-and-file members were former soldiers or police officers who for various reasons had been discharged. Ashmawy and al-Hamid themselves had been discharged during the mid-2000s, allegedly for displaying an increased interest in religious matters. Aside from former security personnel, the group may also have recruited ex-IS members in Libya. The group’s total cadre strength was not known, and different sources put its strength from a few dozen to around 100. For example, unnamed sources within the Egyptian security services claimed in early 2018 that at least 30 former soldiers and officers had joined Jama’at Ansar al-Islam; none of these estimations were confirmed. Jama’at Ansar al-Islam’s primary area of operations was Egypt’s Western Desert, an inaccessible region bordering Libya.
Jama’at Ansar al-Islam was most likely a close affiliate of al-Qaida, as shown by Ashmawy’s refusal to renounce his allegiance to the group. Furthermore, “Guardians of Sharia”, a social media outlet otherwise known for carrying messaged from al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, distributed the group’s formative statement. This was seen as a formal endorsement of Jama’at Ansar al-Islam by al-Qaida. Furthermore, Jama’at Ansar al-Islam was believed to maintain a base in the Libyan town Derna, which would have implied some sort of cooperation with the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council, another al-Qaida-affiliate that controlled the town at the time. It should also be noted that Jama’at Ansar al-Islam appears to have been overtly opposed to IS. For example, following an IS attack on a mosque in the Sinai Peninsula, Jama’at Ansar al-Islam issued direct threats against IS. It was suggested that this enmity could stem from al-Qaida’s ambition to expand its influence in Egypt at IS’ expense.
