Jaysh al-Islam#Liberation Brigade

Liwa al-Islam was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011, where he had been serving time for his Salafist{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/freedom-fighters-cannibals-the-truth-about-syrias-rebels-8662618.html|title=Freedom fighters? Cannibals? The truth about Syria's rebels|author=Aron Lund|work=The Independent|date=17 June 2013|access-date=26 February 2025|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005164529/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/freedom-fighters-cannibals-the-truth-about-syrias-rebels-8662618.html|archive-date=5 October 2013|df=dmy-all}} The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Assef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. Liwa al-Islam was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with the al-Nusra Front.{{cite web|url=http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/The-Free-Syrian-Army-24MAR.pdf|title=The Free Syrian Army|last=O'Bagy|first=Elizabeth|publisher=Institute for the Study of War|date=24 March 2013|access-date=10 November 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327170113/http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/The-Free-Syrian-Army-24MAR.pdf|archive-date=27 March 2014|df=dmy-all}}

File:Ghouta Marj Jaysh al-Islam 13-2-2017(4).jpg ]]

On 29 September 2013, 50 rebel factions operating mostly around Damascus announced their merger into a new group called Jaysh al-Islam. Liwa al-Islam was the dominant faction in this merger, and its leader Zahran Alloush was announced as the leader of Jaysh al-Islam.{{Cite news|title=The Army of Islam Is Winning in Syria|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/10/01/the-army-of-islam-is-winning-in-syria/|work=Foreign Policy Magazine|date=1 October 2013|access-date=8 May 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516055703/http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/10/01/the-army-of-islam-is-winning-in-syria/|archive-date=16 May 2015|df=dmy-all}}{{Cite news|title=Total of 43 Islamist Groups Unite under Newly Formed "Army of Islam" in Syria|agency=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIjtc6At-CU|date=29 September 2013|access-date=7 November 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010064254/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIjtc6At-CU|archive-date=10 October 2013|df=dmy-all}} Thirty-eight of the original groups listed as joining the merger were already members of, or affiliated with, Liwa al Islam.{{cite news|title=Assessing Syria's Islamic Alliance|url=http://www.revolutionobserver.com/2013/10/assessing-syrias-islamic-alliance.html|agency=Revolution Observer|date=11 October 2013|access-date=11 November 2013}}{{cite news|title=GUEST POST: On Liwa al-Islam and the new 'Jaysh al-Islam' merger|url=http://www.aymennjawad.org/2013/09/guest-post-on-liwa-al-islam-and-the-new-jaysh-al |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930112236/http://www.aymennjawad.org/2013/09/guest-post-on-liwa-al-islam-and-the-new-jaysh-al |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 September 2013 |agency=Pundicity|date=30 September 2013|access-date=11 November 2013}} In September or earlier, Jaysh spokesman Islam Alloush had criticized the Syrian National Coalition, stating that the SNC should be led by those who are fighting in Syria rather than leaders in exile, but felt not (yet) inclined to outright break with the SNC.{{Dead link|date=December 2020}}{{Cite news|title=Insight: Saudi Arabia boosts Salafist rivals to al Qaeda in Syria |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-jihadists-insight-idUSBRE9900RO20131001 |work=Reuters|date=1 October 2013 |access-date= 8 May 2015}}

By November 2013, 60 groups had merged into Jaysh al-Islam,{{Cite news|title=Syria: Jaysh Al-Islam rejects Geneva II conference|url=http://www.aawsat.net/2013/11/article55322150|work=Asharq Al-Awsat|date=12 November 2013|access-date=15 November 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115173809/http://www.aawsat.net/2013/11/article55322150|archive-date=15 November 2013}} and more than 175 rebel groups around Syria expressed a desire to join it.

The new group's creation was said to have been negotiated and spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, who believed that al-Nusra Front was gaining too much strength. After the merger, The Guardian reported that Saudi Arabia was preparing to give the group millions of dollars to "arm and train" its fighters,{{cite news |title= Syria crisis: Saudi Arabia to spend millions to train new rebel force |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/07/syria-crisis-saudi-arabia-spend-millions-new-rebel-force|work=The Guardian |date=7 November 2013 |access-date=10 November 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131110022415/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/07/syria-crisis-saudi-arabia-spend-millions-new-rebel-force|archive-date=10 November 2013|df=dmy-all}} and use instructors from Pakistan to help train the group.{{cite news|title=Saudi Arabia's Shadow War|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/11/06/saudi_arabias_shadow_war?|publisher=Foreign Policy|date=6 November 2013|access-date=10 November 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109173417/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/11/06/saudi_arabias_shadow_war|archive-date=9 November 2013|df=dmy-all}}

While previously having been part of the Free Syrian Army's Supreme Military Council (SMC), in December 2013 Zahran Alloush announced his departure from that SMC, saying: "our affiliation to the Council came when it was coordinating operations against the Assad regime without being dependent on any other party, and when it had signed no pledges as to the makeup of a future state. However, when the FSA had come under the aegis of the Syrian National Coalition (in October 2013) which was committed to a democratic, pluralist state, Alloush – who had started the new Syrian Islamic Front of Islamist factions in November 2013 – decided he would no longer be part of the Supreme Military Council.{{Cite news|title=Leading Syrian rebels defect, dealing blow to fight against al-Qaeda|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10498477/Leading-Syrian-rebels-defect-dealing-blow-to-fight-against-al-Qaeda.html|work=Daily Telegraph|date=5 December 2013|access-date=5 December 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206030911/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10498477/Leading-Syrian-rebels-defect-dealing-blow-to-fight-against-al-Qaeda.html|archive-date=6 December 2013|df=dmy-all}}

In March 2015, Jaysh al-Islam and the Unified Military Command of Eastern Ghouta formed the "Military Council of Damascus and its Suburbs", under the direct command of Zahran Alloush.{{Cite web|url=https://www.alsouria.net/content/%D8%AA%D8%B4%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%82-%D9%88-%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%81%D9%87%D8%A7-%D9%88-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B6%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%87-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%A9|title=Formation of a "military council in Damascus and its suburbs" and joining the "unified leadership"|work=Al-Souria|date=30 March 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009192957/https://www.alsouria.net/content/%D8%AA%D8%B4%D9%83%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%82-%D9%88-%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%81%D9%87%D8%A7-%D9%88-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B6%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%87-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%A9|archive-date=9 October 2017|df=dmy-all}}{{efn|name=suburbs|Not to be confused with the Damascus Military Council which also had the same name.}}

On 26 April 2015, they established the Fatah Halab joint operations room along with other major Aleppo based groups.

Until late 2015, Jaysh al-Islam at times cooperated with the Al-Nusra Front.[https://www.thenational.ae/world/why-jaish-al-islam-and-ahrar-al-sham-are-at-the-heart-of-geneva-squabbles-1.195682 Why Jaish Al Islam and Ahrar Al Sham are at the heart of Geneva squabbles]. The National. 3 February 2016.

{{See also|Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War}}

File:Jaysh al-Islam parade.jpg watches Jaysh al-Islam recruits during a military parade with a captured T-72AV ]]

On 25 December 2015, the group's founder Zahran Alloush was killed, along with several other leaders of the group, in a Syrian air strike on the suburbs of Damascus.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35178684|title=Syrian rebel leaders 'die in air strike'|date=25 December 2015 |publisher=BBC News|access-date=25 December 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/25/zahran-alloush-leader-syria-rebel-group-killed-airstrike|title=Leader of powerful Syrian rebel group killed in airstrike|author=Kareem Shaheen|work=The Guardian|date=25 December 2015|access-date=24 January 2016}} Abu Hammam Bouwaidani succeeded him as leader.{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/russian-raids-kill-prominent-syrian-rebel-commander-151225142422180.html|title=Russian raids kill prominent Syrian rebel commander|work=Al-Jazeera|date=25 December 2015|access-date=25 December 2015}}

Since the death of Zahran Alloush in late 2015, there have been conflicts between Jaysh al-Islam and other members of the Unified Military Command of Eastern Ghouta, along with associated groups such as Al-Nusra Front and its Jaish al-Fustat operations room. Ahrar al-Sham has remained neutral.{{cite web|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2015/07/syria-ghouta-demonstrations-jabhat-al-nusra.html|title=Is Jabhat al-Nusra behind Ghouta demonstrations?|date=3 July 2015|access-date=14 June 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://carnegieendowment.org/syriaincrisis/?fa=63376|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420222359/http://carnegieendowment.org/syriaincrisis/?fa=63376|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 April 2016|title=After Zahran: Rising Tension in the East Ghouta|first=Aron|last=Lund|access-date=14 June 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566671-rebel-allies-fight-each-other-in-east-damascus-monitor|title=Rebel allies fight each other in east Damascus: monitor|access-date=14 June 2016|archive-date=4 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804201825/https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566671-rebel-allies-fight-each-other-in-east-damascus-monitor|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566802-rebel-heavyweights-clash-outside-damascus|title=Rebel heavyweights clash outside Damascus|first=Albin|last=Szakola|access-date=14 June 2016|archive-date=4 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804201900/https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566802-rebel-heavyweights-clash-outside-damascus|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/EjmAlrai/status/726435811311362048|title=Elijah J. Magnier on Twitter|access-date=14 June 2016}} Intra-rebel fighting in Ghouta took place in May 2016, with 300 deaths. On 24 May 2016, leaders of Jaysh al-Islam and al-Rahman Legion met to sign a peace deal to end hostilities.{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/735201731726835713|title=Charles Lister on Twitter|access-date=14 June 2016}}

On 25 January 2017, Jaysh al-Islam's Idlib branch joined Ahrar al-Sham.{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/hadialabdallah/status/824415161708642304|title=هادي العبدالله Hadi on Twitter|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205015034/https://twitter.com/hadialabdallah/status/824415161708642304|archive-date=5 February 2017|df=dmy-all}}

In April 2017 a coalition of the Al-Rahman Legion and Tahrir al-Sham encroached on the area of Eastern Ghouta controlled by Jaysh, which launched a campaign to drive them out, resulting in 95 casualties between 26 April and 1 May.{{cite web|url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/least-120-dead-intra-rebel-fighting-enters-fifth-day-damascus-suburb-1496381352|title=Syrian rebels 'fire on protesters' calling for end to infighting|work=Middle East Eye|date=1 May 2017}} The clashes enabled the Syrian Army to make advances in eastern Damascus. Demonstrators called for an end to the fighting; video footage circulated at the end of April appeared to show Jaysh al-Islam fighters opening fire on demonstrators who called for an end to the rebel infighting.

On 12 April 2018, some 13,000 Jaysh al-Islam fighters with their families have evacuated the town of Douma in buses, thus surrendering that town to the Assad government.ARD's Tagesschau – the main television news bulletin of Germany, 12 April 2018, 20:00 o'clock, German time. Jaysh fighters and their families have resettled in northern Syria, in the Aleppo countryside, where they operate out of Jarabulus under the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army.{{cite web | last=Ashawi | first=Khalil | title=Far from home, a Syrian rebel group starts over | website=U.S. | date=29 September 2018 | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-rebels-idUSKCN1M71CO | access-date=16 February 2019}}

Following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Jaysh al-Islam was integrated into the reorganised Syrian military, with its leader, Essam al-Buwaydhani, becoming an official in the defence ministry.{{cite web |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250428-syria-group-says-military-chief-arrested-in-uae | title=Syria group says military chief arrested in UAE | work=France 24 | date=28 April 2025}}

Since 2015, Jaysh al-Islam has called for the Syrian government to be replaced by a technocratic body that represents the diversity of the Syrian people.
In 2016, Jaysh al-Islam's ideology was described as a "mixture" of Salafism, Syrian nationalism, "and at least in the past, a significant dose of Sunni sectarianism":

Zahran Alloush initially called for the establishment of an Islamic state in Syria but later renounced his previous positions, expressed support for an elected government, boasted about the protection his organization offers to Christians under its rule and even defined the Alawi sect as a victim of the Assad regime.{{cite web |url= http://www.regthink.org/en/articles/jaysh-al-islam-rebels-at-the-gates-of-damascus |title= Jaish al-Islam: Rebels at the Gates of Damascus |work=Forum for Regional Thinking |author=Elizabeth Tsurkov |date=26 August 2016 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901064711/http://www.regthink.org/en/articles/jaysh-al-islam-rebels-at-the-gates-of-damascus |archive-date=1 September 2017 |df= dmy-all}}

As an example of the earlier sectarianism, in 2013 or earlier, Alloush in a speech suggested that "Sham" or Bilad al-Sham (the Levant or specifically Damascus) should be "cleansed of the filth" of the Shi'ites (whom he called "Rafida" = rejectionists) and Alawites (whom he called "Nusayris" or "Majous" = Zoroastrians, pre-Islamic Persians): "And I give you the news, oh unclean Rafida: Just as the Umayyads crushed your heads in the past, the people of Ghouta and Sham will crush them soon, they will make you taste a painful torment in this world, before God makes you taste it in the hereafter".{{cite web|url=http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/zahran-alloush/|title=Zahran Alloush: His Ideology and Beliefs|author=Joshua Landis|date=16 December 2013 |access-date=31 March 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325123621/http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/zahran-alloush/|archive-date=25 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}

In that early period, Alloush condemned democracy and called for an Islamic state to succeed the tyrant Assad. However, in a May 2015 interview with McClatchy journalists, Alloush used less debatable rhetoric, claiming that Syrians should decide what sort of state they wanted to live under and that Alawites were "part of the Syrian people" and only those with blood on their hands should be held accountable. His spokesman went on to claim that the sectarian and Islamist rhetoric Alloush had previously made was only intended for internal consumption and to rally his fighters.{{cite news|url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/20/267327/islamist-rebel-leader-walks-back.html|title=Islamist rebel leader walks back rhetoric in first interview with Western media|date=20 May 2015|access-date=25 May 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525030144/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/20/267327/islamist-rebel-leader-walks-back.html|archive-date=25 May 2015|df=dmy-all}}{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JGSw80Ts94|title=Syrian Rebel Leader Changes His Conservative Rhetoric in First Talk With an American Newspaper|date=22 May 2015|work=YouTube|access-date=19 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310162720/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JGSw80Ts94|archive-date=10 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}{{cite web|url=http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/is-zahran-alloush-in-amman-by-aron-lund/|title=Syria Comment » Archives "Is Zahran Alloush in Amman?" by Aron Lund – Syria Comment|work=Syria Comment|date=7 June 2015 |access-date=19 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150818094856/http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/is-zahran-alloush-in-amman-by-aron-lund/|archive-date=18 August 2015|df=dmy-all}}

{{Gallery

|title=Flags of Jaysh al-Islam

|width=200 |height=150

|align=center

|footer=

|File:Jaysh Al Islam white flag.svg

|Flag of Jaysh al-Islam (White)

|File:Jaysh Al Islam black flag.svg

|Flag of Jaysh al-Islam (Black)

|File:Flag of Syria 2011, observed.svg

|The Syrian independence flag used officially by Jaysh al-Islam since 2017.}}

On 6 October 2012, Liwa al-Islam captured two 9K33 Osa SAM systems in Eastern Ghouta with at least 12 missiles total.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} A video was posted on 29 July 2013, depicting some of the missiles being used to shoot down a Syrian government Mil Mi-8.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA81HsShrVA Video of 9K33 Osa shooting down SAF helicopter.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213123501/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA81HsShrVA |date=13 February 2017 }}{{better source needed|YouTube – is the a reliable secondary source?|date=March 2018}} Retrieved 27 December 2013. In November 2013, the group captured two training-jets (L-39s used by the government as jet fighters) from the Syrian Air Force and showed them on the runway.{{cite news|title=Islamist rebel air force takes off in Syria|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/islamist-rebel-air-force-takes-wing/|publisher=Times of Israel|date=3 November 2013|access-date=19 November 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131128064223/http://www.timesofisrael.com/islamist-rebel-air-force-takes-wing/|archive-date=28 November 2013|df=dmy-all}} But so far, they haven't been used in combat.

In March 2016, Syria Deeply reported: "...the leader of Jaysh al-Islam, or "Army of Islam" was killed in December last year in a government air strike. His death, however, did nothing to stop to the group's totalitarian rule in Eastern Ghouta, where residents say torture and imprisonment without trial occur routinely in the name of "liberation" and Sharia law.""Youmna al-Dimashqi (Syria Deeply) [https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/syria-torture-army-of-islam_us_56f54d0fe4b0143a9b47fc59 Syrians Describe Horrific Torture In Jails Run By Islamist Militants]". The Huffington Post. 23 March 2016.

{{see also|Human rights violations during the Syrian Civil War#Free Syrian Army and other armed opposition fighters}}

From approximately January 2014 until July 2015, Jaysh was fiercely fighting ISIL, especially in the Ghouta belt around Damascus. In revenge for ISIL's beheading of Jaysh members and releasing a video recording of the event in June 2015, Jaysh al-Islam's website published a video that showed its fighters executing 18 alleged ISIL militants by shotgun. The video mimics the imagery that ISIL has used for similar filmed executions; however, it reversed the imagery by having the executioners wearing orange prisoner outfits (reminiscent of the jumpsuits victims of ISIS would wear before their untimely executions) and the victims being dressed in black robes. ‘Qariban qariba’, a song used by ISIS in many of their videos played throughout the execution, albeit the lyrics altered to denounce the group (for example, it says “With the accusations of apostasy they shed blood” in reference to ISIS killing innocents and civilians) The video included some English subtitles.{{cite news|title=Syrian rebels filmed shooting Islamic State militants|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33342943|publisher=BBC News|date=1 July 2015|access-date=1 July 2015}}[http://www.news.com.au/world/syrian-rival-jihadi-group-jaysh-al-islam-execute-isis-fighters-in-brutal-role-reversal-video/story-fndir2ev-1227428595510 The Australian: "Syrian rival jihadi group, Jaysh al-Islam, execute ISIS fighters in brutal role reversal video"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150821062652/http://www.news.com.au/world/syrian-rival-jihadi-group-jaysh-al-islam-execute-isis-fighters-in-brutal-role-reversal-video/story-fndir2ev-1227428595510 |date=21 August 2015 }} 5 July 2015

In August{{cite web|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Aug-23/312378-insurgents-shell-main-prison-near-syrian-capital-killing-10.ashx|title=Insurgents shell main prison near Syrian capital, killing 10|work=The Daily Star Newspaper – Lebanon |date=23 August 2015|publisher=The Daily Star|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150825043238/http://dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Aug-23/312378-insurgents-shell-main-prison-near-syrian-capital-killing-10.ashx|archive-date=25 August 2015|df=dmy-all}} and September 2015, Jaysh al-Islam shelled and stormed Adra Prison in north-east Damascus. As of 12 September 2015, it had taken control of two buildings.{{cite web|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Sep-12/314959-11-dead-in-rebel-shelling-on-damascus-activists.ashx|title=11 dead in rebel shelling on Damascus: activists|publisher=The Daily Star|date=12 September 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912235628/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Sep-12/314959-11-dead-in-rebel-shelling-on-damascus-activists.ashx|archive-date=12 September 2015|df=dmy-all}}{{cite web|url=https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/rebels-storm-syrias-largest-prison-near-damascus-monitor-125954952.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005115628/https://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/rebels-storm-syrias-largest-prison-near-damascus-monitor-125954952.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 October 2015|title=Rebels storm Syria's largest prison near Damascus: monitor|date=11 September 2015}}

On 1 November 2015, an opposition media outlet, Shaam News Network, posted a video showing Jaysh al-Islam militants had locked people in cages and spread out 100 cages containing about 7 captives each through Eastern Ghouta, northeast of Damascus, to use them as human shields against Syrian government air raids.{{cite news|author=Robert Mackey, Maher Samaan|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/world/middleeast/syrian-rebels-say-caged-hostages-will-die-with-them-if-shelling-continues.html?_r=0|title=Caged Hostages From Syrian President's Sect Paraded Through Rebel-Held Suburb|work=The New York Times|date=1 November 2015|access-date=2 November 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104180552/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/world/middleeast/syrian-rebels-say-caged-hostages-will-die-with-them-if-shelling-continues.html?_r=0|archive-date=4 November 2015|df=dmy-all}} According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the caged people being used as human shields were captured Alawite military officers and their families who had been kidnapped by Jaysh al-Islam two years ago outside Adra al-Ummaliyah, a government-held neighbourhood in Eastern Ghouta.{{cite web|url=http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/11/01/Monitor-Syria-rebels-using-caged-captives-as-human-shields-.html|title=Monitor: Syria rebels using caged captives as 'human shields'|publisher=Al-Arabiya Network|date=1 November 2015|access-date=2 November 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151103195159/http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/11/01/Monitor-Syria-rebels-using-caged-captives-as-human-shields-.html|archive-date=3 November 2015|df=dmy-all}} However, Jaysh al-Islam has not yet claimed responsibility for either of these alleged actions and The New York Times has suggested the possibility that these 'hostages on public display' were a mere show, to sway public opinion against further government and Russian bombardments on Eastern Ghouta.

{{See also|Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war}}

On 7 April 2016, the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood in Aleppo was shelled with mortars that may have contained chemical agents.{{cite news|url=http://www.dw.com/en/concerns-grow-about-abuses-war-crimes-in-syria/a-19277777 |title= Middle East Concerns grow about abuses, war crimes in Syria |work=Deutsche Welle|date=25 May 2016}} On 8 April, a spokesman for the rebel group said that "weapons not authorized for use in these types of confrontations" had been used against Kurdish militia and civilians in Aleppo. He stated that "One of our commanders has unlawfully used a type of weapon that is not included in our list". He did not specify what substances were used but, according to Kurdish Red Crescent, the symptoms were consistent with the use of chlorine gas or other agents. Welat Memo, a physician with the Kurdish Red Crescent, said that the people affected are "vomiting and having difficulty in breathing."{{cite web|title=Kurdish Officials: Rebels May Have Used Chemicals in Aleppo|url=https://www.voanews.com/a/kurdish-officials-rebels-may-have-used-chemicals-aleppo/3276743.html|website=Voice of America|date=8 April 2016 |access-date=11 April 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411110119/http://www.voanews.com/content/kurdish-officials-rebels-may-have-used-chemicals-aleppo/3276743.html|archive-date=11 April 2016|df=dmy-all}} Spokesperson for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) said that Jaysh al-Islam's "statement came after many conclusive evidences and reports of chemical gas being used in shelling Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud district". He also said that the group has attacked the Kurdish neighborhood of Aleppo with "forbidden weapons" many times since the war's start."[http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/7a0f6294-ab7f-4d15-b5af-3ff4b444ab3f/Syrian-rebels-admit-chemical-use-against-Kurds Syrian rebels admit chemical use against Kurds]". Kurdistan 24. 9 April 2016. Jaysh al-Islam subsequently clarified that it was referring to "modified Grad rockets," not chemical weapons.Sam Heller [https://www.thedailybeast.com/one-kurdish-neighborhood-in-the-crossfire One Kurdish Neighborhood in the Crossfire], Daily Beast, 15 April 2016

Stanford University's Mapping Militant Organizations project records that Jaysh al-Islam is not designated as a terrorist organization by any major national government or international body. However, it notes that Russia, Lebanon, and Egypt have supported classifying it as such since the end of 2015.{{Cite web|url=https://static.reuters.com/resources/media/editorial/20180116/armed_groups_list.pdf|title=Countries' list of armed groups, Reuters}} Later, however, JaI was designated "moderate opposition" in a December 2016 list released by the Russian defence ministry, and participated in the Russian-backed Astana talks.{{cite web | last=Petkova | first=Mariya | title=Where is al-Qaeda in Syria? | website=Al Jazeera | date=1 March 2018 | url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/al-qaeda-syria-180301152110387.html | access-date=15 November 2018}}{{cite web | title=List of armed formations, which joined the ceasefire in the Syrian Arab Republic on December 30, 2016 : Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation | website=MoD Russa| date=30 December 2016 | url=http://eng.mil.ru/en/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12107227@egNews | access-date=15 November 2018}}{{cite web | title=Syrian war: All you need to know about the Astana talks | website=Al Jazeera | date=29 October 2017 | url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/syrian-war-astana-talks-171029160554816.html | access-date=15 November 2018}}

Jaysh al-Islam's relationship with the United States has remained mixed. Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in a speech in Aspen, Colorado on 28 June 2016, mentioned Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham as "subgroups" of "the terrorists" ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra. US Obama administration officials disapproved this mention and told The Washington Post, who speculated that Kerry's comment may have been accidental, that it was inaccurate and could harm U.S. government efforts to convince the Russian and the Syrian governments not to attack Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham. The Post also reported that "Syrian [opposition] groups" saw Kerry's comments as an example of how the Obama administration has slowly moved toward the Russian view of Syria, which includes painting all opposition groups as terrorist organizations in order to justify attacking them.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/kerry-touts-the-russian-line-on-syrian-rebel-groups/2016/07/11/e7ba7dcc-4798-11e6-90a8-fb84201e0645_story.html|title=Kerry touts the Russian line on Syrian rebel groups|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=4 September 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003065608/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/kerry-touts-the-russian-line-on-syrian-rebel-groups/2016/07/11/e7ba7dcc-4798-11e6-90a8-fb84201e0645_story.html|archive-date=3 October 2016|df=dmy-all}}
The US State Department in July 2016 confirmed that the US administration's policy with regard to Jaysh al-Islam had not changed: Jaysh was and is not a UN-designated terrorist group, is opposed to ISIL, and is not allied to Nusra.Natasha Bertrand [https://www.businessinsider.com/john-kerry-jaysh-al-islam-ahrar-al-sham-syria-2016-7 State Department officials are 'baffled' by John Kerry's latest comments that have 'muddied the waters' in Syria], Business Insider, 12 July 2016

{{Portal|Asia}}

• Douma massacre (2015)
• List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin}}

{{cite book |last=Lister |year=2015

|first=Charles R. |title=The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-019046247-5 |url={{Google books|S6eKCwAAQBAJ|plainurl=y}}}}

{{refend}}

• {{official website|https://www.jaishalislam.org/}}

Category:2013 establishments in Syria

Category:Anti-Assad factions of the Syrian civil war

Category:Anti-ISIL factions in Syria

Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Russia

Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by Iran

Category:Salafi Islamist groups

Category:Sunni Islamist groups

Category:Syrian National Army