Who are the Al-Nusra Front (Jabhat al-Nusra)? | 5 Minute History Episode 13 

Hi everyone! Apologies for the very late video - I've been moving house and so finding time to make videos has been a little tricky! Hope you enjoy this nonetheless!

Getting a real Judaean People’s Liberation Front vs the People’s Front for the Liberation of Judaea vibe here…. Another great vid Hilbert!

Ah yes. The "Questionable shades of Grey" team.

A Russian soldier in Syria famously said when asked about the Al-Nusra Front rebranding: "I don't know shit about shit"

Are we going to see more short histories of the different factions fighting in Syria? Id like to learn more about the different militias that sided with assad and the anti-gov militias too, but also factions that are a bit weird in their allegiances like kurdish forces in the rojava.

I'm fascinated by Jabhat al-Nusra/Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Julani has a brilliant knack for changing his image, and positions, which make him a very effective leader, and also a very dangerous one. Even in splitting from IS, which cost him a great deal of support at the time, he ensured that he and his group would survive as a fighting force for much longer in Syria than they would have had they joined. There's a fascinating video from Vice in January 2014 in which they document a joint photo-op by Jabhat al-Nusra and IS, which must have been filmed in the period after the split, but before open hostilities between the two groups. It's become quite clear at this point that Assad has won the war, but given that HTS and others seem to hold control in and around Idlib, I do worry about how this war ends. Assad isn't going to allow the Northwest of Syria to be defacto independent forever, and HTS don't seem likely to give up given how far they've gone.

Middle Eastern Civil War belligerents be like: -rebel group -marginalied ethnic militia -rebel group -islamist group -radical islamist group -more radical islamist group -transnational islamist group -hardcore jihadist islamist group -dying islamist group with deceased charismatic leader -shia islamist group -christian and other minority militia

I really like the slight change of content to covering Middle-East modern history, learning a lot

Love your Arabic pronunciation!

Thanks for making these videos about these unknown but relatively important groups!

i like how you cover the nuance of terrorist groups, they are not all united and often end up fighting each other

awesome video, excuse do you have in mind do a video about the Colombian Conflict or the organizations like the AUC or the Farc?

Best content on youtube rn. Would love to see your video about Georgia. Maybe about the 2008 or 90s conflict or even the battle of Texel and Georgian legion in WW2.

There are a few mistakes here: 1) First you should clarify that al-Nusra was never a franchise of the 'Islamic State' as ISIS or later IS - the whole conflict between Golani and Baghdadi was that the former refused the latter's declaration of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as well as the later "caliphate" (Islamic State/IS). So that's misleading. Theoretically you could be referring to the group being a 'franchise' of the 'Islamic State of Iraq' (i.e. ISI - AQI's successor and predecessor of ISIS which existed between 2007-2013), but even then I think that's a dubious claim to make: even if Jolani was dispatched by Baghdadi (which is correct), his pledge of allegiance was to Zawahiri, not Baghdadi. I think it's more accurate to say that Nusra was the Syria branch of Al-Qaeda, not of ISI. And that in a sense matters because ISI (essentially Zarqawi's creation, first as "Jama'at al-Tawhid wal Jihad", then when his pledge of allegiance was accepted by AQ central, transformed into"Al-Qaeda in the lands of the two rivers"/AQI) was in a sense never a 'proper' AQ franchise either - Zarqawi operated essentially independently (his tactics were and targeting of Shias etc was even criticised by Bin Laden and Zawahiri in letters) and the group existed before it pledged allegiance to AQ. (*Nusra was also in turn always distinct in terms of its operational strategy and goals from AQ even from early on; even when it was AQ-affiliated it said that it did not want a global 'jihad' or a war with the west and its goals were Syria-specific. Of course that doesn't mean they didn't have links with AQ and its operatives, but as with Baghdadi essentially, Golani got the AQ branding because he wanted to grab attention and make a name for his group - otherwise it would have been just another Islamist grouping out of many already operating - the AQ branding set his group apart. And as with Baghdadi, he discarded it when he had managed to consolidate himself sufficiently and it became redundant to him when he sought to reinvent himself (though in the opposite direction of Baghdadi - Golani sought to reinvent himself as a 'moderate' and someone who was willing to crack down on hardliners - ironically the accusation he used to level at FSA groups as a justification for attacking them). The split with AQ was thus real (AQ was very angry with Golani) but was also not unpredictable - their goals were not the same. Not that it has to be said, but of course all this doesn't change the fact that the group is a horrible authoritarian one, AQ or not.) 2) Nusra was *never* part of the FSA. Very wrong and misleading to say that. It was part of the armed rebellion, but never placed itself under the FSA umbrella (also the case with Ahrar al-Sham). This is unlike say Jaish al-Islam, who were previously part of the FSA when they were called Liwa al-Islam, and then even when they technically split to become part of the Islamic Front, still sometimes put their names onto FSA-signed statements. Faylaq al-Sham is another example of a major group that is sometimes referred to as independent of the FSA but also actually puts itself "officially" at least under the FSA umbrella. 3) The Nusra-Ahrar war began in 2017 (you mention 2006, I presume you meant 2016 - but that's also incorrect) - after HTS was formed absorbing Ahrar hardliners, while the remaining Ahrar absorbed former FSA factions (especially from Aleppo) and sought to take on a more mainstream image (thus accepting the opposition's tricolour flag for the first time, and eventually joining the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army - essentially an expanded FSA). 4) I'm not aware of anything about Nusra being heavily made up of Iraqis at the start. I might be wrong but that's news to me. Nusra was known from quite early on to be overwhelmingly Syrian-based (approx 80% at least) - unlike ISIS. If you have a source for this claim it would be useful. 5) You should have probably mentioned that the US bombed Nusra dozens of times - as well as other (non-designated) rebel groups under the pretext of cooperating with it (the US even bombed rebel positions alongside Assad's airforce during the siege of Aleppo). John Kerry even once floated the suggestion that Assad could be 'permitted' (officially that is) to bomb Nusra as part of a transition deal. The US state department also incorrectly claimed that 'Nusra controlled Aleppo' in 2016, when they had something like 250 fighters compared to more than 7,000 overwhelmingly FSA ones. And while as I mentioned Nusra is an ugly group, the US targeting of them and the rebels more generally was essentially in complete contrast to the US ignoring the sectarian, also "jihadist" militias that were fighting on the regime's side (to remind: US never bombed Iranian-backed militias under Obama, even though some of them were also 'designated' groups like the Iraqi Kata'ib Hezbollah; this only changed under Trump when Assad had already recaptured territory and safeguarded his rule).

Can we get an update on the Panjshur valley?

I HATE BASHER AL ASSAND U NEARLY KILLED ME AM A REFUGE FROM SYRIA

Nice vid Hilbert, can you do one on Hamas next?

Awesome 🔝💯

Nice

Great video Hilbert. Only comment is that a 'q' in Arabic transliteration is pronounced as a hard c/g sound as you'd hear in Dutch, rather than a q in English

Early gang rise up and reunify Germany with former Prussian lands

Did you think about doing a video about the kurdish militias ypg/ypj?

Great video love your channel Here are some ideas I would love to see South Thailand insurgency Tigray war Al-qaueda insurgency in Maghreb and Sahel Azwad insurgency and Northan Mali war Albanian civil war Isis insurgency in Iraq 2021 Who are the free Syrian army Who are hezzebolah (don’t know how to spell) Maoist insurgency in India Tajik civil war Who are hamas (Sorry for any bad spelling) Thank you!

Man, the splintering of groups has got to be a head ache.

Hey can you do a video about Nicolae Ceausescu the ruthless dictator of Romania.

You should talk about the Jund al-Aqsa group that merged with the al-Nusra front which should give a pretty clear view that they are pretty much just as brutal and oppressive as ISIS were.

We Will forever miss 🕊Abu Firas Al-Suri❤️

Can you do one on the Islamiç state of Iraq 2006-2007

I’m looking for some information about a Australia 🇦🇺 native by the name yehya el-kholed how was part of this organization.. Just wondering if you could help me thank you 😊

As an Arab I say you said the Arab names right 👍

Super informative video. Very helpful to know something my tax dollars go towards bombing and why. Keep up the good work.

Man this war was a huge mess! it's hard to tell who was against who! except that everyone vs "Isis" perhaps! Even for a Middle Eastern as myself is confusing!

0:06 Arab organisations trying to not have ridiculously long names and put those names on their flags (impossible):

All of it a matter of time until the thruth prevails and becomes victorious, like god wills it.

Slightly disapointed you didnt mention al nusra was the first faction to use suicide bombers in the syrian civil war

Any chance we can get a 5 minute history episode about the PKK or ASALA?

Quick heads up you pronounce تحرير as تخرير which literally just means "shitting"

1:11 the text says "who is that" and is in Pasto, a language spoken by pashtoons.

Do a video about FSA

I love the middle eastern pronounciation

Please do Ahrar al Sham. I am no fan of Salafis but I do have a halal man-crush on Kasem Jamous, the syrian civil war's most charismatic hype man

*Where

But what about the People's Front of Al-Nusra

al nusra front has agents working for iran, they were also at the golan heights and didnt fire a single shot

Who were the Naxalites?

i have watched plenty of videos on this region of the world. And fuck me im still fucking confused as ever.

Can you do a video of Harakat Ahrar Al Sham Al islamiyyah pls there my fave

Hilbert and his Islamic insurgencies😂🤣

Nevsr imagine if they siccesfully rreplaced assad soon they clashed with fellow islamist, maybe ypu can make a video about Abu Musab as Suri , a white looking jihad mastermind who affliliated with Al Qaeda, he has a spanish wife.

There are a LOT of gopro combat footage/propaganda video from them on reddit.

That's a true islam not today peace makers

2016 not 2006 when they fought Al sham

this isnt complicated at all

Do one in Islamic front

Hurras al-Din should've been in this video...

wow you just be covering every terrorist group

They are / were the alternative to the Syrian government

They have been rename to HTS

SadarLah sodara sodaraku kalian sedang di adu domba , kalian menyembah Tuhan yang sama dan juga Nabi yang sama .. AyoLah sodara ku BersatuLah dan Hidup lah dengan damai , jangan Lah Terpecah Belah seperti ini 😢

I love them they are revolutionary people may Allah help them plz if u have 0 problem plz join them and I can't because I am from Waziristan

Ga slapen man

Make a Kurdish video

this guys pronunciations are soooo cringe

ХМ ММ, где мой арбалет? Идлиб не Тибет, ждет бой за каждый минарет Ждет Сухель Хасан, тиграм - падишах Ждет Джулани, Ан-Нусра и ХТШ Запрещенные в России группировки Но мы не в России, значит будут потасовки Значит будет

You could have narrowed this down to just "CIA backed militants". Great video again man.

Anyone watching this video is on a NSA watch list

Another Pakistan Taliban faction?

I feel like calling the rulling power in Syria, "The Assad regime" instead of "The Assad Goverment" is not very neutral. Dont get me wrong i hate Assad and the people who defend him, but im kinda tired of hearing foreing goverments being called "regimes" when they are enemy of the western powers, when equally horrible states are called by their names, like for example very few people use the term "The Saudi regime". Anyway, great video, you are really making the war in Syria more understandable by explaning all the factions, and the art is cute too.

Rusya ABD İran ve Esad rejimi Suriye'yi karıştıran ve savaş çıkartan devletlerdir Türkiye Cumhuriyeti olarak Suriye'nin özgürlüğü için savaşan insanlara destek veriyoruz 🇹🇷

it's sad how many terrorists are around these days

Assad my beloved

This legit sounded no different to me than all the other videos you’ve been doing on the topic of Islamist groups. Just depressing.

Ah yes the moderate rebels.

Still waiting for the PKK video 😤😤😤

They're target practice.

Who are they? US allies in the civil war.

You didn't dare to mention who was supporting them. 💸💸💸 COUGH 🙂 Gulf crying in the corner.

Inside the heart of every Arab, (and most Muslims) there is the seed of a traitor. Fact of life, and fact of History.

And Turkey funds them

Long live Bashar al-Assad.

they are supported by turkey