On June 4, supporters of Jaysh al-Izza released a short video throwing light on the group’s high-tolerance to al-Qaeda ideology.
The video shows Jaysh al-Izza General Commander Major Jamil al-Saleh congratulating a group of his fighters on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr in a underground bunker. One of the fighters greeted by Saleh was wearing a batch of the Islamic Black Standard with the Seal of Muhammad. This is a well-known symbol of al-Qaeda and the official flag of ISIS.
Jaysh al-Izza’s media office made an attempt to hide the footage by releasing a heavily edited version of the meeting on their official YouTube channel. However, the original footage was already shared by pro-government activists.
Formed in 2013, Jaysh al-Izza was one of the first Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups in northern Syria to benefit from U.S. support through the CIA’s “Timber Sycamore” train and equip program, which had been approved by then U.S. President Barack Obama.
The group received loads of weapons from the U.S. including Grad rockets, as well as Fagot and TOW anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs).
Jaysh al-Izza received this support under the pretension of being a “moderate group” led by a known Syrian Arab Army (SAA) defector, al-Saleh. However, the group’s acts were not in line with these claims.
Since its formation, Jaysh al-Izza has been deeply linked to al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, the al-Nusra Front. The group became one of the main allies of al-Nusra when its changed its name to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2017.
Al-Saleh is known for having a close relationship with HTS’ leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani. This close relation was likely behind Jaysh al-Izza’s decision to avoind joining the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation (NFL) last year.
The weapons supplied to Jaysh al-Izza were used to support several military operations of HTS. Some were even used in attacks on civilians. Last month, the group’s Grad rockets claimed the lives of four children in the government-held town of al-Suqaylabiyah in northern Hama.
Jaysh al-Izza’s “special relationships” with HTS and its high-tolerance to al-Qaeda ideology confirms the radical views of the group’s fighters and leader. Jaysh al-Izza members are not even making much efforts to hide this after the suspension of the U.S. support in 2017.
Yesterday was Eid al-Fitr, not Eid al-Adha
Secondly, the black standard predates Isis and Al-Qaeda, and conflating the two is about as irresponsible as conflating Isis with Al-Qaeda.
Conflate your ass
LMAO!!!!
Poor guy that makes belive he don’t understand how terros!st nebula works! …which consists of hundred differents groups, and has a high degree of interchangeability of staff between groups, and to change names of these groups (as well) at any time to hide tracks.
Yeah color me not surprised about where Jaysh al-Izza’s true sympathies lie. I’m more concerned about Russia’s high tolerance to al-Qaeda ideology: it’s them who have shielded “political opposition” like this for the past year, not Assad. If such reports coming out now mean that the Kremlin is finally coming to its senses, then better late than never I guess.
Remember: grinding the Syrian jihadists into dust was supposed to be the ticket to restoring Russia’s image and prestige in Europe. Had this been seen through with swiftness and determination, it would have worked: European citizens are sick and tired of the double games of their governments. They’d have loved to see the Bear take care of business and restore order; the whining of the Guardian would have made little difference. What they got instead was something so ambiguous and muddled that only we SouthFront junkies are still paying attention.
You’re right but you missed an episode maybe.
Yes, Russians are hardliners now. They used cluster bombs in battlefield again. And as you can see into DMZ, all villages and cities are emptied of citizens (“moderates”). So it seems to be there is no “reconciliation programs” no more! (And of course no expectation for “Green Buses”)… All that speaks, no?!
Yes, the grounds are shifting now. Though Moscow is concerned as ever what their American partners think of it all, so we’ll have to see how this one plays out.
Just to clarify, I don’t think I’m exactly howling for blood and cluster bombs on villages. A year ago, the south near Daraa seemed like an unsolvable headache. But when the loyalists mounted a determined offensive, in village after village the fighters folded. Hitting hard and going fast got the job done with much less carnage (on both sides) than an endless back-and-forth. See, a lot of the “opposition” leadership cares about money at least as much as about Allah, so at the hour of truth they’ll prefer surrender to martyrdom.
Then again, others may say that the southern offensive worked so well thanks in part to the green-bus deals. So armchair general is a tricky profession. Still, couldn’t hurt to keep in mind what worked, and what didn’t.
Americans lost this war, because a spokesperson just said they were “embarrassed by Idlib’s jihadists” (that they know well they’re not “moderates”). My two cent: That means they’re not going to care of them… For me it smell they’re going to let Russians and Syrians to “finishing the job”?
I do not think anybody is surprise about this, not at all my friend. This is very well known for must to everybody.
At least they had cut the assfuck part
So jaysh al jizza is a front for transefering weapons to Al Nusrah, how im not surprised.
Nice floor in the tunnel! If Trump.and his team can hide this from americans , they will become the greatest magicians ever.
I hope he throws that at the democrats in the elections!
US-Israel always recruit the worst beasts, enemies of man, is the Jewish ideology of the Talmud copied by the Wahabites, Isis and Al Qaeda, Bin Salman the ripper is the chief butcher of this scum, indoctrinated by the Mossad. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c75b54b70b61d144545a9e439599db6e1ec60c6a7c7c95ae54b053a945d299da.jpg
Video was replaced by another version, But it was not an “heavily edited version”, but a short version of a footage from another camera (without any “Islamic Black Standard batch” containing seal of Muhammad) we can see on the longer version, the guy filming the short version in the background.
@SouthFront is it possible someone from your team to add some English subs to the 3min video. Ty.
I smell a ‘spin’ rat, the Turks have been accused of supplying the rebels with Grad rocket launchers and other heavy weapons [according to recent SF articles], but now we have a reminder that Obama also supplied the FSA with Grads as well, but I can also remember some other important details. The US/Trump finally ended all support for the FSA at the start of last year, they were then allowed by an agreement between Trump and Assad, to travel to either Aleppo or Idlib, but they weren’t allowed to take any heavy weapons with them, only light arms, so how could the Grads in the south that the US supplied from it’s base at Al Tanf get to the north. A lot of those grads and other heavy equipment were probably used by the FSA in Daraa/Quneitra when the SAA attacked the FSA and HTS there, and I can only imagine that the SAA confiscated/destroyed all those heavy weapons when the FSA and HTS lost, I don’t think any of them could’ve ended up in Idlib at all. And the new ones the Turks NFL proxies are using look brand spanking new, not old and battleworn. Maybe the FSA did somehow manage to move some of their heavy weapons they had in the south up to Idlib, but they didn’t drive them there. The only way to get them there would be for someone to airlift them there, but there’s been no evidence of that [no Russian SAA intel], but they could I suppose move them from the US base at Al Tanf to somewhere Turkey, and then just drive them across the border into Idlib, but I doubt very much that happened. I don’t think any of the heavy weapons the FSA are using in Idlib came from the US at all, I think the SAA would’ve confiscated/destroyed all of them when they beat them in Daraa/Quneitra, and the SAA are probably using them right now to attack the rebels in Idlib, and I say that in all seriousness. I think all the [brand new] heavy weapons the rebels are now using come from the one and only same source, trucked in from the other side of the Turkish/Syrian border courtesy of Erdogan, and they haven’t come from the southern areas of Homs and Daraa and Quneitra where they were being used by the FSA courtesy of the US and Jordan, I think those grads and other heavy weapons are now in SAA usage, not in rebel FSA hands.