Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement
The Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement (Arabic: حركة نور الدين الزنكي Ḥaraka Nūr ad-Dīn az-Zankī) was a Sunni Islamist rebel group involved in the Syrian Civil War. In 2014, it was reportedly one of the most influential factions in Aleppo, especially the Western Aleppo countryside. Between 2014 and 2015, it was part of the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council and recipient of U.S.-made BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles. The Movement made multiple attempts to merge with the larger Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham but were refused by Ahrar al-Sham's leadership. The Zenki Movement also made attempts to merge with other Islamist factions, Jaysh al-Islam and the Sham Legion. However, all merging efforts with these groups failed, leading to the Zenki Movement joining the Salafi Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2017. But after a few months the group left HTS and within a year went to war with HTS by joining the Turkish-backed Syrian Liberation Front alongside Ahrar al-Sham on 18 February 2018. After a series of clashes in early 2019 Al Zenki were largely defeated by HTS, expelled to Afrin and absorbed in the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. However, it reportedly re-emerged as an independent entity in 2020.
Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement | |
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حركة نور الدين الزنكي | |
Logo of the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement | |
Leaders | |
Dates of operation | Late 2011 – 25 March 2019 |
Group(s) |
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Active regions | Aleppo Governorate and Idlib Governorate, Syria |
Ideology | Sunni Islamism |
Size | 7,000 (2017) |
Part of |
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Allies | Saudi Arabia (until 2017) Turkey Qatar United States (Until 2015) Al-Nusra Front/ Tahrir al-Sham (2012–14, 2016–17) Ahrar al-Sham Liwa al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar |
Opponents | Syria Iran Russia Hezbollah Syrian Democratic Forces Sultan Murad Division (2017-2019) Levant Front (since late 2016) Army of Mujahideen (since late 2016) Al-Nusra Front/ Tahrir al-Sham (2015, since November 2017) Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Hamza Division (Since 2017) |
Battles and wars | Syrian Civil War |