Ansar Dine

Ansar Dine (Arabic: أنصار الدين ʾAnṣār ad-Dīn, also transliterated Ançar Deen; meaning "helpers of the religion" (Islam) also known as Ansar al-Din (abbreviated as AAD) was a Salafi jihadist group led by Iyad Ag Ghaly. Ansar Dine sought to impose absolute sharia across Mali. The group took over the city of Timbuktu in 2012, which prompted the French-led intervention, Operation Serval.

This article is about the Islamist group based in Mali. For the Islamist group based in Syria, see Ansar al-Din Front. For the Sufi-based organization, see Chérif Ousmane Madani Haïdara.

Ansar Dine
Dates of operation2012 (2012)–2017 (2017)
Active regionsMali
Senegal
Mauritania
IdeologySalafi jihadism
Salafi movement
OpponentsState opponents

Non-state opponents

Battles and warsInsurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present)

The organization is not to be confused with the Sufi movement Ançar Dine, founded in Southern Mali in the 1990s by Chérif Ousmane Madani Haïdara, which is fundamentally opposed to militant Islamism. Ansar Dine is opposed to Sufi shrines, and it has destroyed a number of such shrines.

Ansar Dine was active from March 2012 until March 2017, when it merged with other militant Islamist groups to form Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.

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