Syrian Jihadism by Aron Lund

foreign funding. He seems to have had an uneasy relationship to some other insurgent groups
in the Idleb region.
The Suleiman Fighting Company is mainly active in the Idleb countryside’s Jebel al-Zawiya
region, and in the Hama countryside, strongholds of Syria’s Islamist resistance. Abu
Suleiman commands the loyalty of thousands of fighters, who have set up rear bases and
bring provisions across the Turkish border. The Suleiman Company appears to be well
funded, and it is reported to be attracting fighters rapidly. 145
Ansar el-Islam Gathering
In August 2012, seven different rebel FSA groups in the Damascus region joined forces under
the name Tajammou’ Ansar el-Islam fi Qalb el-Sham (”Gathering of Islam’s adherents in the
heart of el-Sham”, i.e. the Levant or Damascus), to form the largest insurgent coalition in the
Damascus region. These groups were: the Islam Division, the Sahaba Brigades, the Furqan
Division, the Ahfad el-Rasoul Division, the Der’ el-Sham Brigades, the el-Habib Mustafa
Division, and the Hamza bin Abdulmuttalib Brigade. 146
Most member groups seem to lean
heavily towards Islamism.
The best known of these groups, and also the most ideologically extreme, is the Islam
Division (Liwa el-Islam). It is active in the Ghouta, formerly a famous agricultural region
surrounding Damascus, but now mostly a sprawl of low-income suburbs. It adheres to
salafism, has set up a Sharia Commission, 147 and describes itself as an independent ”military
jihadi” faction. 148
It has been involved in hit-and-run guerrilla warfare, as well as in in bomb
attacks on government centres. In July 2012, the Sayyed el-Shuhada Brigade of the Islam
Division claimed responsibility for the mysterious bomb attack against the National Security
Office in Damascus, which killed at least four high-ranking regime officials, among them
145 Nir Rosen, "Islamism and the Syrian uprising", Foreign Policy, March 8, 2012,
mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/08/islamism_and_the_syrian_uprising; Telephone interview with Syrian opposition
journalist Malik al-Abdeh, July 31, 2012.
146 "tajammou' ansar el-islam bayan" ("Ansar el-Islam Gathering statement"), YouTube video uploaded by Martyrs12, August 17,
2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPaNqfzG-8o; the Ansar el-Islam Gathering on Facebook,
www.facebook.com/Ansar.islam.muster. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Elin Hagerlid for valuable information on
this group and its member organizations, as well as on Syrian insurgent factions generally.
147 Islam Division (Sharia Commission), www.facebook.com/is.br.gr.Sharia.
148 Islam Division Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/IslamicBrigade/info.
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