Katibat Junud al-Makhdi (commonly referred to as just Junud al-Makhdi) is an active armed

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

group created by a merger of two smaller groups operating in Northern Syria, composed exclusively of

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

and Bashkir fighters mainly from

Tatarstan The Republic of Tatarstan (russian: Республика Татарстан, Respublika Tatarstan, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə tətɐrˈstan; tt-Cyrl, Татарстан Республикасы), or simply Tatarstan (russian: Татарстан, tt ...

and

Bashkortostan The Republic of Bashkortostan or Bashkortostan ( ba, Башҡортостан Республикаһы, Bashqortostan Respublikahy; russian: Республика Башкортостан, Respublika Bashkortostan),; russian: Респу́блик� ...

as well as other areas in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

with Tatar and Bashkir populations.

History

The group was created by a merger of Jamaat Bulgar and Jaish al-Shomal al-Islam in mid-2016 (each made up of Tatar fighters from Russia). Jamaat Bulgar was initially founded 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 borde ...

with its headquarters in Waziristan by an Avar from

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...

and its fighters fought alongside the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

while not being formally part of it for 10 years and became involved in the Syrian Civil War during the beginning with several fighters arriving in 2012. The second group was founded in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

to combat the

Assad regime Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. The leader of Jaish al-Shomal al-Islam is the current leader of the Junud al-Makhdi. The group cooperates with the

Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria 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, an armed Uyghu ...

as well as local

Syrian Turkmen Brigades Syrian Turkmen Brigades ( tr, Suriye Türkmen Tugayları; ), also called the United Turkmen Army ( tr, Birleşik Türkmen Ordusu; ), are an informal armed opposition structure composed of Syrian Turkmen and Turks that form the military wing of ...

in the Latakia Governorate because of linguistic similarities in the

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia ( Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turki ...

. The group also calls on

Russian Muslims Although Islam is a minority religion in Russia, Russia has the largest Muslim population in Europe. According to US Department of State in 2017, Muslims in Russia numbered 14 million or roughly 10% of the total population. According to a c ...

to join its ranks as well as wage war domestically, and claims to have members active in both Russia and

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...

.{{cite web, url=http://www.chechensinsyria.com/?p=25129, title=More Deailed Information & Interview With Newly-Formed Tatar Group Junud Al-Makhdi Whose Amir Trained in North Caucasus With Khattab, website=From Chechnya to Syria, date=3 July 2016, access-date=6 August 2018, author=Joanna Paraszczuk

References

2016 establishments in Syria Anti-government factions of the Syrian civil war Jihadist groups in Syria Tatar nationalism