Islamic Front (Syria)

The Islamic Front (Arabic: الجبهة الإسلامية, al-Jabhat al-Islāmiyyah) was a Sunni Islamist rebel group involved in the Syrian Civil War, which was formed by the union of seven separate groups on 22 November 2013. Its three largest components were Ahrar ash-Sham, the al-Tawhid Brigade and Jaysh al-Islam. The alliance was achieved by expanding the preceding Syrian Islamic Front alliance. It was described as "an umbrella organization rather than a full union", with constituent factions continuing to serve under their own distinct leaderships.

The Islamic Front wanted to transform Syria into an Islamic state after the planned overthrow of the government of President Bashar al-Assad. It refused to recognise most formal structures of the Syrian opposition, such as the Syrian National Council.

The alliance fragmented over the course of 2014. On 24 December 2014, the Islamic Front factions in the Aleppo Governorate formed the Levant Front alliance with other armed groups in northern Syria. In 2015, the Salafist group Ahrar ash-Sham – a major component of the Islamic Front alliance – joined with jihadist groups under the Army of Conquest operations room umbrella, successfully campaigning against the Syrian Arab Army in the northern districts from March to September 2015. The group continued its nominal membership of the Islamic Front alliance, despite its more jihadist orientation. By early 2015, the Islamic Front was being described as virtually defunct, with the largest member groups Ahrar ash-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam remaining separate entities, and the smaller IF factions (Liwa al-Haqq, Suqour al-Sham Brigade and Kurdish Islamic Front) being absorbed into Ahrar ash-Sham.