Jaish al-Islam's...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...
Chiefs said fighters of the key rebel group in Syria will open all battlefronts against regime army and allied militias, according to to his official Twitter account, hour after the strategic gains in Daraa and eastern Qalamoun.
Islam Army announced on Tuesday an offensive on ISIS in the eastern Qalamoun region, seeking to open a supply route that links to the Syrian north, according to statement posted online.
Ali Abdul Baqi (Dubbed: Abu Ma'rouf) said on his Twitter account, we are pleased to inform the nation that our jihadist (al-Mujahedeen) to open all battlefront against Kharijite (Bashar al-Assad regime)..."
Activists said that fighters of Jaish al-Islam, or Islam Army, have seized control of al-Afaei mountain that located near the Syrian desert after expelling ISIS fighters who control most of Badiyat al-Sham territory.
Islam Army said its elite fighters who operate under the 5th Brigade is carrying out the battle against radical Islamist group.
Southern Front fighters, including Islam Army members, captured a major base from the Syrian army in the south of the country on Tuesday, rebels and a monitoring group said, a setback for Bashar al-Assad reflecting the mounting pressure on him after recent losses elsewhere, Reuters reported.
"We announce the liberation of Liwa 52," Issam al-Rayyes, spokesman for the "Southern Front" alliance of rebel groups, told Reuters. Liwa 52, or the 52nd Brigade, is one of the biggest Syrian army bases in the area.
The southern region near the border with Jordan and Israel is one of the areas where insurgents have inflicted significant defeats on Assad in the last three months, notably by capturing the Nasib border crossing with Jordan on April 1.