The Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria (TIP; ar, الحزب الإسلامي التركستاني في سوريا tr, Türkistan İslam Partisi, zh, 突厥斯坦伊斯兰党) is the Syrian branch of the

Turkistan Islamic Party The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) or the Turkistan Islamic Movement (TIM), formerly known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and other names, is a Uyghur Islamic extremist organization founded in Western China. Its stated goals ar ...

, an armed Uyghur Salafist jihadist group with a presence in the Syrian Civil War. While the TIP has been active in Syria, the organization's core leadership is based in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, with a presence in its home territory of China.

History

TIP (ETIM) sent the "Turkistan Brigade" ( Katibat Turkistani), also known as the Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria to take part in the Syrian Civil War, most noticeably in the

2015 Jisr al-Shughur offensive Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album ...

. Al-Qaeda linked groups in Syria include the Syrian branch of the Chechen Caucasus Emirate, Uzbek militants, and the Turkistan Islamic Party. TIP has participated in: *

Northwestern Syria offensive (April–June 2015) The Northwestern Syria offensive (April–June 2015), dubbed by the rebels as the Battle of Victory, took place in the Idlib Governorate, Idlib and Hama Governorate, Hama governorates during the Syrian Civil War. The campaign consisted of a thr ...

Al-Ghab offensive (July–August 2015) The al-Ghab offensive (July–August 2015) was an offensive launched by rebels during the Syrian Civil War to capture areas surrounding Jisr al-Shughur, and to establish a foothold in the al-Ghab plain, in northwestern Syria's Idlib and Hama gov ...

* Siege of Abu al-Duhur Airbase * Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War * Northwestern Syria offensive (October–November 2015) * Latakia offensive (2015–2016) * Aleppo offensive (October 2015 – present) * Siege of Al-Fu'ah-Kafarya (2015) * Aleppo offensive (April 2016) * Aleppo offensive (May 2016) Syrian Churches have been demolished by Turkistan Islamic Party Uyghur fighters, who exalted in the acts of destruction, and in Homs and Idlib battlefields the Turkistan Islamic Party cooperated with Uzbek brigades and Jabhat al-Nusra, Jabhat al-Nusra and IS (ISIL) compete with each other to recruit Uyghur fighters. In Jisr al-Shughur a Church's cross had a TIP flag placed on top of it after the end of the battle. The Uzbek group Katibat al-Tawhid wal Jihad (Tavhid va Jihod katibasi) released a video featuring themselves and the Uyghur Turkistan Islamic Party attacking and desecrating Christian Churches in Jisr al-Shughur. Jabhat al Nusra and Turkistan Islamic Party fighters were accused of displacing Christian residents of rural Jisr al-Shughour, and reportedly killed a Syrian Christian man along with his wife, accusing them of being Syrian government agents. The Saudi news agency Al-Arabiya said that the area was Alawite. Turkistan Islamic Party has exploited the Turkish Postal Service and Turkish banks to solicit donations via the organization "Türkistan İslam Derneği" through the website "Doğu Türkistan Bülteni".

Child soldiers

Camps training children for Jihad are being run by the Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria. Uyghur child soldiers being instructed in Sharia and training with guns were depicted in a video released by TIP.

Route into Syria

According to the

Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based conservative defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission today is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which ...

, Turkish connections were used by Uyghur fighters to go into Syria and the humanitarian Uyghur

East Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association The East Turkistan Education and Solidarity Association (ETESA) is a Uyghur Islamist organisation based in Istanbul, Turkey. The government of China has accused the group of having ties to the Turkistan Islamic Party (formerly known as the Eas ...

(ETESA) which is located in Turkey sent Uyghurs into Syria, endorsed the killing of the pro-China Imam Juma Tayir, applauded attacks in China, and posted on its website content from the TIP. Its top commander Abu Omar al-Turkistani who also served as the group's first overall leader was killed in an American

drone strike Drone warfare is a form of aerial warfare using unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The United States, United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, India, Pakist ...

in Sarmada, Idlib on 1 January 2017. His replacement leader Abu Rida al-Turkistani was then killed in a series of Russian airstrikes on his home near the town of Ariha on 12 January 2017 leaving his entire family dead as well. Ibrahim Mansour succeeded Abu Rida al-Turkistani as the third leader of TIP since then.

References

External links

Ḥizb al-Islāmī al-Turkistānī in Bilād al-ShāmTurkistan Islamic Party , FDD's Long War Journal
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019083933/https://news.siteintelgroup.com/tag/31.html , date=19 October 2017 2012 establishments in Syria Qutbist organisations Anti-government factions of the Syrian civil war East Turkestan independence movement Groups affiliated with al-Qaeda Jihadist groups in Syria Pan-Turkist organizations Sunni Islamist groups Turkistan Islamic Party Salafi Jihadist groups Turkish supported militant groups of the Syrian civil war

History

Child soldiers

Route into Syria

See also

References

External links