Nearly the entire lecture, in fact, is meant to defend Ahrar’s membership against Salafi-jihadist critiques of Ahrar’s departures from militant orthodoxy, including its international diplomatic outreach to regional states and the West.įirst, however, a note on nomenclature: I tend to define “Salafi-jihadism” and “jihadism” as Islamists and jihadists themselves do: a specific, exclusivist subset of Sunni Islamist militancy that includes al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and some smaller factions. He states:Įvery member of this movement needs to know the movement’s story, the reasons why it was founded, and the foundation on which it was built, so he can be an impregnable barrier, able to defend this blessed movement against the attacks of those who toss around dubious claims.īut while al-Omar makes a reference to Ahrar al-Sham’s “secularist” critics late in the video, he is more focused on another set of critics: jihadists. Yet, he also makes clear he is equipping Ahrar’s members to defend the movement against its critics. In the May 29 video, al-Omar addresses Ahrar’s assembled commanders with a lecture he says is meant to put forward the movement’s positive vision, which he declares has become a model for others. He repeatedly delineates the distinctions between Ahrar and the Salafi-jihadist doctrine of al-Qaeda and the self-proclaimed Islamic State, even as he makes clear that Ahrar maintains a fundamentally militant and religious outlook.
Now, Ahrar al-Sham has itself weighed in with an hour-long, videotaped lecture by its deputy leader, Ali al-Omar (Abu Ammar), titled “ The Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement’s Position Among the Islamist Trends.” Over the course of the lecture, al-Omar explains how Ahrar understands itself. Security Council to designate Ahrar al-Sham a terrorist organization. Just last month, the United States helped block a Russian effort in the U.N. Much of this debate has centered on opposition faction and Islamist movement Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyyah (the Islamic Movement of the Freemen of al-Sham, shortened as Ahrar al-Sham) – whether Ahrar are “jihadists,” or how they might be linked with al-Qaeda.
It is surely a sign of the bizarre circumstance in which we find ourselves today that “What exactly is Ahrar al-Sham?” has become a question of international political importance.Īs the United States, Russia, and other members of the International Syrian Support Group make a new push to resolve Syria’s civil war, the debate over which armed opposition groups are outside the bounds of any settlement has proven controversial and divisive.
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