The Kurdish Islamic Front () was a small

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

Islamist armed group founded by Salahuddin al-Kurdi who also served as the group's spokesman and Abu Abdullah al-Kurdi in 2013, operating mainly in eastern

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

around

al-Bab Al-Bab ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Bāb'') is a Syrian city, administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. Al-Bab is located northeast of Aleppo, south of the Turkish border, and has an area of . Al-Bab has an altitude of . According to the Cen ...

, the northern parts of the

Raqqa Governorate Raqqa Governorate (, Kurdish: ''Parêzgeha Reqa'') is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is situated in the north of the country and covers an area of 19,618 km2. The capital is Raqqa. The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant claim ...

, and the

Hasakah Governorate Al-Hasakah Governorate (; ; , also known as , ''Gozarto'') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is located in the far north-east corner of Syria and distinguished by its fertile lands, plentiful water, natural environment, ...

. It fought during the Syrian Civil War and was opposed to the

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

Syrian Kurdish government and groups, including those with common goals. The group dissolved and joined

Ahrar al-Sham Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya (), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, was a coalition of multiple Sunni Islamist units that coalesced into a single brigade and later a division in order to fight against the Syrian Government led by Bas ...

by the end of 2014.

History

The group was established on 22 November 2013 by Salaheddin al-Kurdi and Abu Abdullah al-Kurdi, who was an Islamist activist from Afrin in the northwestern region of Syria's

Aleppo Governorate Aleppo Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab'' ) is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, governorates of Syria. It is the most populous governorate in Syria with a population of more than 4,867,000 (2011 Est.), almost 23% of the t ...

, bordering

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, and at the time under

YPG The People's Defense Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, is a libertarian socialist US-backed Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG mostly consists of K ...

control. The group became part of the Islamic Front, which was a

coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

of other groups which include

Jaysh al-Islam Jaysh al-Islam (, meaning ''Army of Islam''), formerly known as Liwa al-Islam (, Brigade of Islam), is a coalition of Islamist rebel units involved in the Syrian Civil War. The group was part of the Free Syrian Army's Supreme Military Counc ...

and others. During the group's existence, they fought alongside other Syrian rebel groups against the Syrian government and the AANES. Salahuddin al-Kurdi stated that the group's main aims were to overthrow the AANES and get rid of the

multicultural Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''ethnic'' or cultural pluralism in which various e ...

, and democratic rule and instead establish

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

rule led by Kurdish Muslims. Abu Abdullah al-Kurdi also stated that the group was established with support from Ahrar al-Sham as a common enemy against YPG and to help diversify the

Syrian opposition Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

. The group ran Islamic schools for Kurdish children in Aleppo. On 30 December 2013, the group's spokesman Salaheddin al-Kurdi said during an interview that Islamic rule would guarantee Kurdish rights and that defending Syria's Kurdish population was the main goal of the group, also saying that their rival Kurdish groups in Syria did not truly care for Kurdish interests. He also explained that the group has a presence across Kurdish populated areas of northern Syria spanning from al-Bab to

Qamishli Qamishli is a city in northeastern Syria on the Syria–Turkey border, adjoining the city of Nusaybin in Turkey. The Jaghjagh River flows through the city. With a 2004 census population of 184,231, it is the List of cities in Syria, ninth most-po ...

and

Tell Abyad Tell Abyad is a town in northern Syria. It is the administrative center of the Tell Abyad District within the Raqqa Governorate. Located along the Balikh River, it constitutes a divided city with the bordering city of Akçakale in Turkey. Hist ...

that they had taken from YPG. In December 2014, the Kurdish Islamic Front fully merged with

References

{{2011 Syrian uprising Anti-Assad factions of the Syrian civil war 2013 establishments in Syria Paramilitary organizations based in Syria Kurdish Islamic organisations Kurdish Islamism Syrian Kurdish organizations Irregular units and formations Military units and formations established in 2013

History

See also

References