22 Facts About Jund al-Aqsa

Jund al-Aqsa, later known as Liwa al-Aqsa after 7 February 2017, was a Salafist jihadist organization that was active during the Syrian Civil War.

In early February 2017, some of Jund al-Aqsa's units joined the newly formed Tahrir al-Sham, while the others refused and formed a new splinter group called Liwa al-Aqsa, and captured many towns in northern Hama and southern Idlib from other rebel groups.

On 7 January 2014, it was confirmed that 34 foreign ISIL and Jund al-Aqsa fighters had been executed in the previous few days by rebels in the Jabal Zawiya area.

In February 2014, Jund al-Aqsa captured the town of Ma'an and massacred 21 Alawite civilians, two-thirds of them women and children.

In March 2015, during the capture of Idlib city, Jund al-Aqsa aided its allies in the Jaish al-Fatah coalition by sending at least two suicide bombers of Kuwaiti and Saudi origins, which allowed the rebels to advance by capturing Qal'ah and Ayn Shib checkpoints.

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SOHR claimed that Jund al-Aqsa joined the 2016 Idlib Governorate clashes and established checkpoints in support of al-Nusra.

In late August 2016, Jund al-Aqsa announced an offensive in northern Hama Governorate.

The leaders of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa signed their names in a text agreement to pledge their allegiance.

On 7 February 2017, Jund al-Aqsa attacked the headquarters of Jaysh al-Nasr near the town of Murak in northern Hama.

On 14 February 2017, Jund al-Aqsa executed more than 170 prisoners of war, including both HTS fighters, FSA fighters, and civilians.

On 23 October 2015, Jund al-Aqsa left the Army of Conquest, because it had misgivings about fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, maintaining a stance that fighting ISIL in an offensive manner was contrary to Islamic law, and it would only fight ISIL defensively if attacked, while reaffirming its loyalty to al-Qaeda.

Jund al-Aqsa was known to have significant roots in the Gulf, particularly Qatar.

Jund al-Aqsa was reported to have worked for al Qaeda in Afghanistan where he was close to Miltants including Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, and Sheikh Abdullah Azzam.

Jund al-Aqsa fought against the Russian forces in Chechnya, and shortly after helped Abu Musab al-Zarqawi found Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, which is known to be the precursor to Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Jund al-Aqsa was a co-founder of al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, with Abu Mohammad al-Julani in 2012, after the two were sent to Syria by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to form terrorist sleeper cells.

Jund al-Aqsa believed that in Qatar he could assist jihadists both materially and logistically.

Jund al-Aqsa was associated with the head of a banned extremist group called the Ummah Party after traveling with him to Syria in 2011 to assist and fund insurgent groups in the region, including Ahrar al Sham.

Jund al-Aqsa went on to become one of al-Nusra Front's senior ranking leaders.

Jund al-Aqsa's sons are both Qatari ID holders, and are sanctioned by both the UN and the United States for their funding of various al Qaeda branches.

Jund al-Aqsa's sons have been successful in connecting the Jund al Aqsa group with Iranian financing from al Qaeda's network in Iran.

Jund al-Aqsa is known to be the organization's primary financial official, responsible for recruiting new members and buying up independent militias.

Jund al-Aqsa holds direct links with wealthy and ideologically extremist Qatari and Kuwaiti businessmen, who finance terrorist groups via charity fronts.