A Russian-speaking fighter in Sayfullakh Shishani’s jamaat claims that several factions including Jaish al-Muhajireen wal Ansar, Muslim Shishani, and Uzbek and Uighur factions, have united.
The fighter, who goes by the nom de guerre Muslim Abdullaev, is a “helper” in Sayfullakh Shishani’s jamaat in Jabhat al-Nusra where he trains snipers and fundraises for the fighters.
He is also close to Muslim Shishani, the leader of Junud a-Sham, a Russian-speaking faction that has fought predominantly in Latakia and Aleppo.
Sayfullakh Shishani’s jamaat, Muslim Shishani, the Uzbek jamaat Al-Bukhari, Ahlu Sunnah wal-Jama’a, the Uzbek Jamaat Abu Salyaha, the Uighur jamaat Turkistan, Ansarullah, Jaish al-Muhajreen wal Ansar (the Caucasus Emirate) –have united. All the Muhajireen (foreign fighters) are now as one body. Allahu Akbar! Takbir! The new name of the united jamaat of muhajireen is Al-Muhajireen.
The report, if true — and the source is as close as possible to the fighters — comes after several of these smaller factions have joined battle coalitions with major Syrian Islamic battalions, particularly Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic Front, fighting as infantry battalions and snipers in key battles in northwestern Aleppo and (in the case of Muslim Shishani) also in Latakia.
Abdullaev says that the new jamaat is separate from Jabhat al Nusra, that the new Emir of the group is not known, but that the Emirs of the factions — Muslim Shishani, Salahuddin Shishani, Muhammad Khorasany, Abu Salyah and Haji Yusuf were “like a Shura council”.
There have been similar unifications before — last Fall, Muslim Shishani, Sayfullakh Shishani, and Abu Musa Shishani declared a unified group. While the three leaders remained close, however, their jamaats did not stay as one unit but separated.
The report also comes amid a deepening rift between Chechen and North Caucasian fighters in these factions allied with Syrian Islamic battalions, and those in the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham, led by Umar Shishani.
With ISIS becoming increasingly isolated from the “mainstream” of the Islamic battalions in Syria, its fighters have begun to increasingly openly criticize North Caucasian fighters in other groups. The show of strength and unity inherent in this reported unification will only serve to isolate ISIS further.
There were reports earlier this week that members of Sayfullakh’s jamaat had defected and joined ISIS; members of the jamaat denied a mass exodus, saying that around 5 or 6 fighters had left but the rest of the jamaat, around 100 foreign fighters and 200 “ansars” or helpers, had remained in Aleppo.
Further details regarding what this unification means in reality are yet to emerge.
(Featured image: Muslim Shishani with fighters from Sayfullakh’s jamaat)