Aknaf Bait al-Maqdis

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Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis
أكناف بي�� المقدس
Leaders
  • Abu Ahmed Mushir[2]
  • Abo Hamam[3]
  • Ahmad Zaghmout[4]
Dates of operationc. 2012/13 – 2015 (main group)
2015 – present (remnant faction)
Allegiance Hamas (denied by Hamas)[5]
HeadquartersYarmouk Camp, Damascus
Active regionsSouthern Syria
IdeologyIslamism
Size200 (2015)[6]
Allies Jaysh al-Islam
Jaysh al-Ababil
Liwa Sham al-Rasul
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (2018)
Al-Nusra Front (formally)[7]
Opponents Syria
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Al-Nusra Front (2015)
Arab Nationalist Guard
Hezbollah
  • Return Forces (Palestinian Hezbollah affiliate)[8]

Palestinian Syrian militias

Battles and warsSyrian Civil War

Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis (Arabic: أكناف بيت المقدس, romanized: ʾAknāf Bayt al-Maqdis, lit. "Region of the Holy House") was a Syrian Palestinian rebel group active during the Syrian Civil War.

History[]

Following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, several Syrian members of Hamas joined the rebellion against the Syrian government, and formed Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis.[12] The militia was only loosely affiliated to the Syrian opposition,[13] however, as its true allegiance remained with Hamas.[14][15] Hamas, however, officially denied any links with Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis.[16] The group was primarily active in the Yarmouk Camp of Damascus, which it defended alongside other insurgents from government attacks from 2013.[4] It also had branches in Quneitra[17] and the Daraa Governorate. The Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis' Daraa group took part in a rebel offensive in September 2013 which aimed at capturing the Daraa border crossing.[18]

Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis battled the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, backed by al-Nusra Front, in April 2015 and lost 90% of its territory in Yarmouk Camp.[14][15][19] As result, Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis disintegrated, as the group was officially absorbed into the Syrian government forces, while many of its members defected to the Al-Nusra Front and ISIL.[20] In order to save the remainder of the militia (by then reduced to 160 fighters), Hamas leader Khaled Mashal reportedly contacted leading members of the PFLP-GC, Hezbollah, and the Amal Movement to guarantee the safety of Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis' members. The group's Yarmouk branch consequently joined the Syrian government forces,[21] and one of its commanders declared the entire militia dissolved.[4] Local pro-government troops continued to regard the reconciled ex-Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis fighters with suspicion.[21] In early 2015, amidst its political disintegration, the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon accused the group of being implicated in rape and other forms of conflict-related sexual violence.[22]

Despite the events of April 2015, a faction of the militia remained active in Yarmouk Camp and allied with the Syrian rebels. This faction rejected offers of reconciliation by the government in January 2017,[23] though it, along with Jaysh al-Islam and Jaysh al-Ababil, signed a ceasefire agreement with government forces in October 2017.[24]

After most rebel factions in southern Damascus, including Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, initially rejected offers to be transported to insurgent-held areas in northern Syria,[25] the government launched an offensive from April 2018, aiming to retake all of southern Damascus. Amid this offensive, Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis clashed with the more numerous Palestinian pro-government militias in Yarmouk Camp.[12] Hard-pressed and without hopes of victory, the insurgents yielded in May, and agreed to surrender and be relocate to northern Syria. The pro-rebel Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis militants and their families were among the first group of surrendered insurgents to be transported to the north.[26]

See also[]

  • List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War

References[]

  1. ^ "Homepage of Aknaf Bait al-Maqdis". Aknaf Bait al-Maqdis. Archived from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Syrian War Daily – 8th of December 2017". 8 December 2017.
  3. ^ "Video- The War On Terror Continues- SAA ground-to-ground missile against ISIS Terrorists In Yarmouk Camp- Idlib, Hama, Qalamoun Mountains". Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  4. ^ a b c "'ISIS and Nusra are one' in Yarmouk Camp". Middle Meast Monitor. 19 April 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  5. ^ https://masralarabia.net/العرب-والعالم/552963-حماس-تنفي-علاقتها-بتنظيم-أكناف-بيت-المقدس-في-سوريا
  6. ^ "Palestinians flee refugee camp in Damascus as ISIS takes over".
  7. ^ "سوريا‬ :جبريل: تنظيم جبهة "النصرة" الإرهابي تآمر على أكناف بيت المقدس بعد أن اعتبرها حليفة له".
  8. ^ "The South Damascus Campaign: Interview with Quwat al-Sa'iqa".
  9. ^ "استهداف معاقل النظام في درعا المحطة". YouTube.
  10. ^ "Jihadists of ISIS and Qaeda attack Syrian rebels in Damascus". ARA News. 3 April 2015. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  11. ^ "كتائب أكناف بيت المقدس وعملياتها في معركة وبشر الصابرين بالقنيطرة وحدة الاعلام المقاوم 5-10-2015". YouTube.
  12. ^ a b Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi (27 April 2018). "The South Damascus Campaign: Interview with Quwat al-Sa'iqa". Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  13. ^ Lister (2015), p. 345.
  14. ^ a b Caleb Weiss (5 April 2015). "Islamic State releases photos from Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus". Long War Journal. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  15. ^ a b "Palestinian Fighters Retake Parts of Refugee Camp Seized by ISIS". Newsweek. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  16. ^ Mamoon Alabbasi (22 May 2015). "How did Hamas's military expertise end up with Syria's rebels?". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  17. ^ "Syrian government forces arrest Free Syrian Army fighter from Quneitra". Smart News. 29 August 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  18. ^ Bill Roggio (29 September 2013). "Al Nusrah Front, Free Syrian Army seize border crossing to Jordan". Long War Journal. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  19. ^ "Jabhat al-Nusra and IS take control on 90% of the Yarmouk camp". Syrian Observatory For Human Rights. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  20. ^ "Syria & Iraq Country Report: Children & Security" (PDF). Dallaire Institute. 31 January 2017. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022.
  21. ^ a b Nour Samaha (4 May 2015). "The Defenders of Yarmouk". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  22. ^ "Report of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence". undocs.org. 20 April 2016. Archived from the original on 12 July 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  23. ^ "Displaced people from Yarmouk camp suffer in Southern Damascus towns". Smart News. 12 September 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  24. ^ "Syrian rebel groups 'agree to Damascus truce' in Cairo". The New Arab. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  25. ^ "Dignitaries and opposition factions in Southern Damascus refuse preliminary agreement with Russia". Smart News. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  26. ^ "Civilians and fighters from three towns in southern Damascus begin displacement process to Northern Syria". Smart News. 3 May 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2019.

Works cited[]

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