Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki
The Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki ( Arabic حركة نور الدين الزنكي, DMG Ḥarakat Nūr ad-Dīn az-Zankī ), also called Nureddin al-Sinki in the German-language media , is an Islamist - jihadist militia that has been fighting in the civil war in Syria since 2011 . It was considered one of the most powerful groups in the greater Aleppo area .
history
The Nour al-Din al-Zenki movement is said to have been founded by “ Sheikh ” Tawfiq Shahabuddin in Sheikh Salman, an area northwest of Aleppo , at the end of 2011 . However, the earliest information on this is from early 2014 and has not been independently confirmed. Its name goes back to al-Malik al-Adil Nureddin Abu l-Qasim Mahmud ibn Zengi , a ruler of the Turkish Zengid dynasty . Most of the group's fighters can be found in the northwest suburbs of Aleppo.
From 19 July 2012 she was involved in the first skirmishes against government troops in Aleppo, taking the Salahuddin district in the west of the city under the banner of the Tahwid Brigades . These brigades had been founded to coordinate the capture of Aleppo by various rebel groups and, according to experts, were close to the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as Turkey and Qatar .
After their withdrawal from Aleppo, the Nour al-Din al-Zenki movement joined the “Front for Authenticity and Development” (Asala wa-al-Tanmiya) sponsored by Saudi Arabia . In 2014, through this alliance, the militia also received support from a CIA program designed to support “moderate rebel groups”. The support was organized by the US Military Operation Center (MOC) in Amman (Jordan). During this time the group was a member of the "Syrian Revolutionary General Command" (Majlis Qiyādat ath-Thawra as-Sūriya) and received BGM-71 TOW anti- tank missile systems from the USA. In October 2015, al-Zengi declared that he would no longer receive any support from the MOC, presumably because reports of executions by the group had surfaced. According to Amnesty International , the Nour al-Din al-Zenki movement was allegedly involved in the kidnapping and torture of journalists and humanitarian workers in 2014 and 2015.
Since January 2014, the Nour al-Din al-Zenki movement has been at war with the Islamist-jihadist militia Islamic State (IS). In December of the same year, the militia joined the Levant Front and coordinated with other groups operating in the greater Aleppo area, such as Ahrar al-Sham .
In December 2015, the movement protested, according to media reports, that Jordan had placed the group on its proposal for an accorded list of terrorist organizations operating in Syria.
In mid-July 2016, al-Zenki fighters arrested the twelve-year-old boy Abdullah Issa as a "prisoner of war", cut his throat and then beheaded him. The murder was captured on propaganda video. At least one member of the rebel-friendly Aleppo Media Center had contact with al-Zenki. The photographer Mahmoud Raslan posed with fighters of the Zenki militia in 2016. Two of the men in the picture were undoubtedly involved in the murder of Issa.
Since August 24, 2016, Nour al-Din al-Zenki has been involved in the Turkish-backed offensive in northern Syria , which was directed against the Islamic State. At the end of February 2017, she left the Turkish operation and joined the Haiʾat Tahrir al-Shame .
During the fighting in the east of Idlib province at the turn of the year 2017-2018, al-Zenki fighters are said to have joined forces with other groups against the Syrian army and its allied militias.
Political direction and goals
The Nour al-Din al-Zenki movement underwent a series of changes and repeatedly joined new military alliances, all of which, however, are at least partially jihadist .
The aim of the militia is to establish a Syrian state on the basis of Sharia law . This was confirmed in a joint declaration by 13 groups in September 2013. The group is therefore in the fight against the Syrian Army , as well as in a conflict of interests with secular rebel groups. Alliances in which al-Zenki was involved have repeatedly called for the jihadist al-Nusra front to be included in negotiations and for the group to be recognized by the West. Al-Nusra probably fought alongside al-Zenki militiamen in the Tahwid brigades as early as 2012 .
After Daesh (Islamic State, IS) was expelled from al-Qaeda in January 2014, the Nour al-Din al-Zenki movement was one of the founding members of the “ Mujahideen Army of Aleppo”, which declared war on IS. "[IS] will never have a place in Syria again," said Tawfiq Shahabuddin, "they have to leave or the battle will continue to the end."
Shahabuddin asserts that he has no connection with the Free Syrian Army (FSA). In fact, the group has always acted outside the FSA.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Illustration by Tawfiq Shahabuddin: US Goal Is to Make Syrian Rebels Viable , nytimes.com, Sept. 18, 2014
- ↑ Nicholas A. Heras: NEW OPPOSITION COALITION JAISH AL-MUJAHIDEEN ANNOUNCED IN ALEPPO. In: Militant Leadership Monitor, Volume 5, Issue January 30th, 2014, archived from the original on March 4th, 2016 ; accessed on August 30, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Sahib Anjarini, Rani Geha: The Story of Al-Tawhid Brigade: Fighting for Sharia in Syria. (No longer available online.) October 22, 2013, archived from the original on September 25, 2014 ; accessed on August 30, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Martin Chulov: Syrian opposition group that killed child 'was in US-vetted alliance'. The Guardian , July 20, 2016, accessed August 30, 2016 .
- ^ Syria: Abductions, torture and summary killings at the hands of armed groups. Amnesty International, July 5, 2016, accessed August 30, 2016 .
- ↑ Albin Szakola & Ullin Hope: CIA-vetted Aleppo rebels lash out at Jordan. (No longer available online.) December 17, 2015, archived from the original on August 30, 2016 ; accessed on August 30, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ US-backed Nour al-Din al-Zenki behead boy accused of being al-Quds spy. Retrieved August 23, 2016 .
- ↑ Video from Syria: So-called moderate rebel group beheads a child . In: Stern's website July 20, 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
- ↑ Syria conflict: Boy beheaded by rebels 'was fighter'. In: BBC website July 21, 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2017. (English)
- ↑ n-tv.de: Syrian extremists join forces
- ↑ "Syrian forces retake all towns lost to Turkey-backed rebels in Idlib" Xinhuanet.com from January 13, 2017
- ↑ Syria rebels reject opposition coalition, call for Islamic leadership. September 25, 2013, accessed August 30, 2016 .
- ^ A b Aron Lund: The Mujahideen Army of Aleppo. April 8, 2014, accessed August 30, 2016 .
