Rouse the Believers [1] | |
---|---|
Arabic: غرفة عمليات وحرض المؤمنين,
romanized: Ghurfat Eamaliat wa-Harid al-Mu'minin | |
Flag used by Rouse the Believers | |
Dates of operation | October 2018 – 12 June 2020 [2] |
Group(s) |
Ansar al-Tawhid (until 3 May 2020)
[3] Guardians of Religion Organization Ansar al-Din Front Ansar al-Islam |
Active regions | Northwestern Syria |
Ideology | Salafi jihadism |
Allies |
Turkistan Islamic Party Jaysh al-Izza |
Opponents |
Syrian Arab Armed Forces
[4] Iran Hezbollah Russia United States [7] |
Battles and wars | Syrian Civil War |
The Rouse the Believers Operations Room ( Arabic: غرفة عمليات وحرض المؤمنين, romanized: Ghurfat Eamaliat wa-Harid al-Mu'minin) (also commonly translated as the And Incite the Believers Operations Room) [1] was a coalition of Salafist jihadist insurgent groups in northwestern Syria during the Syrian Civil War.
The coalition included the Guardians of Religion Organization, Ansar al-Din Front, and Ansar al-Islam. All of the individual organizations in the group have rejected the Sochi agreement. [9] Ansar al-Tawhid left the group on 3 May 2020. [3]
On 24 October 2018, the operation room shelled multiple Syrian military positions in the town of Jurin in the Hama Governorate with SPG-9 recoilless guns. In response, the Syrian Army shelled a town controlled by the operation room 10 km north of Jurin.[ citation needed]
On 28 October 2018, the group published a video near al-Zahraa in the Aleppo Governorate of a sniping operation being carried out against pro-government militiamen. [5]
On 27 November 2018, a video was released by the coalition showing fighters attacking government positions and gunning down pro-government militiamen in their quarters and taking their weapons. [10]
On 27 August 2019, Rouse the Believers conducted a counter-offensive in southern Idlib targeting the Syrian government's positions near the town of Atshan. [11] The Syrian Army reported repelling the attack shortly thereafter. [12] Rebel forces reported taking over the villages of al-Salloumiyah, Sham al-Hawa, Tell Maraq and Al-Jaduiyah later in the day. [13] SOHR confirmed that al-Sullaumiyah and Abu Omar had been recaptured by opposition forces and that some advances were made on Sham al-Hawa, while clashes over the rest of the villages continued. [14] Later on the same day, SOHR reported that the rebel groups had withdrawn from the positions where they had taken earlier in the southeastern countryside of Idlib. [15]
On 31 August 2019, the U.S. carried out a series of airstrikes on a Rouse the Believers meeting between Kafriya and Maarrat Misrin, killing over 40 Guardians of Religion Organization militants, including several leaders. [7] [16]
Ansar al-Tawhid had a falling-out with the Guardians of Religion Organization and left the Rouse the Believers Operations Room in May 2020. [3] On 12 June 2020, the operations room's remaining members reorganized themselves into a new operations room called "So Be Steadfast," which included two additional Salafi jihadist groups led by former HTS commanders, namely the al-Muqatileen al-Ansar Brigade and al-Jihad Coordination Group. [2]