Jund Al-Sham - Attacks

Attacks

The group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing near a British school in Qatar, and/or the name of a Salafi-influenced group in the Ein el-Hilweh camp refugee camp near the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon. Its presence has also been reported in Syria. It has been listed as a terrorist organisation by Russia It may or may not have any relationship to the "The Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom of al-Sham", who in December 2005 claimed responsibility for the assassination of Gibran Tueni, and made threats against Detlev Mehlis.

Amnesty International reports on other attacks as follows:

"Heba al-Khaled, Rola al-Khaled and Nadia al-Satour were arrested on 3 September 2005, following, according to Syrian state media, a gun battle in Hama province, in the west of the country, between the Anti-Terror Squad and militants of the Jund al-Sham ("Soldiers of the Levant") armed group. Five Jund al-Sham members were reportedly killed and two security officers injured. The women were arrested when the security forces were unable to find their husbands, who are allegedly involved with Jund al-Sham. They were first detained in the town of Hama, before being transferred to the Military Intelligence Palestine Branch in Damascus. They were reportedly held as hostages to put pressure on their husbands to give themselves up, even though Heba al-Khaled and her sister Rola al-Khaled were pregnant at the time they were detained, and Nadia al-Satour reportedly had her young baby with her."

On May Day, 2006, Jund al-Sham reportedly fought with Fatah in the Ein el-Hilweh camp. One Palestinian bystander, Mohammed Tayssir Awad, 20, was killed by a stray bullet. The Associated Press reported: "A Fatah official in the camp, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the fighting began when Jund al-Sham gunmen tried to assassinate Mahmoud Abdul-Hamid Issa, a Fatah military official, as he walked with his bodyguards. One of the bodyguards, Abu Omra al-Aswad, was seriously wounded, the official said."

On September 12, 2006, armed militants reportedly linked to Jund al-Sham attempted to storm the US Embassy in Damascus. The four attackers were armed with hand grenades and automatic rifles, as well as a van rigged with explosives. Three of the attackers were killed and one wounded; a Syrian anti-terrorism officer was also killed in the battle.

On June 3, 2007, Jund al-Sham fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a Lebanese Army Checkpoint near Sidon, prompting a response from the Lebanese Army leading to clashes. These clashes follow a tense three weeks in Lebanon's north, where the Lebanese Army has been battling militant group Fatah al-Islam at a Palestinian refugee camp.