Джунд аш-Шам
Brief description
Jund al-Sham was a relatively small insurgent group that participated in the Syrian conflict, fighting with other jihadist groups against Bashar al-Asad.
The group mainly operated in Latakia region. It originally enjoyed good relations with Jaysh al-Khilafah al-Islamiya, Ansar al-Sham, and Adzhnad al-Kavkaz, but increasingly became drawn into conflicts with other jihadist factions.
The group had extensive links to German Salafi communities in Bonn, Berlin, and Frankfurt (Steinberg, 2016) and published propaganda material in German as well as Russian, English, and Arabic.
Margoshvili repeatedly complained that the group lacked resources and called for the unification of non-IS groups. He also opposed IS suicide attacks, particularly in Turkey.
Leadership
The group was led throughout its existence by Murad Margoshvili (Muslim al-Shishani), effectively operating as his personal group.
