In northwest Syria (Idlib and its environs), it is known that the two main insurgent operations rooms are al-Fatah al-Mubin ('The Clear Conquest') and Wa Harridh al-Mu'mineen ('And Rouse the Believers'). The al-Fatah al-Mubin operations room is composed of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, the factions of the 'National Front for Liberation' and the independent Jaysh al-Izza. As for Wa Harridh al-Mu'mineen, it comprises the al-Qa'ida-loyalist group Hurras al-Din, Jama'at Ansar al-Islam (jihadist and of Iraqi origin but independent) and Jabhat Ansar al-Din (jihadist and of Syrian origin but independent).
Some people ask what is the logic of having two operations rooms? Why do they not unite as one? Here, a member of Jama'at Ansar al-Islam and the Wa Harridh al-Mu'mineen operations room explains why the factions of the Wa Harridh al-Mu'mmineen operations room do not enter into the al-Fatah al-Mubin operations room.
Praise be to God and prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of God.
Some people rebuke us and among them virtuous brothers on the grounds that there is the al-Fatah al-Mubin operations room and in it are most of the factions of the north. So why do you not enter with them and form one entity?
I say as a soldier coming under the room of Wa Harridh al-Mu'mineen and in God is granting of success.
1. Unity and gathering are a divine command by which God and His Messenger have ordered us.
2. Your brothers are the first who took the initiative in establishing an operations room and called it Wa Harridh al-Mu'mineen. So why have they not joined the convoy of your brothers but rather they have gone and established another room?!
3. Wa Harridh al-Mu'mineen: their affair has Shura [consultation] between them. As for al-Fatah al-Mubin, there is much talk about their affair belonging to their supporter, and the Turks oversee it [the operations room] and lead it.
And the foundational principle is: what is ascertained with certainty should not be abandoned for an imagined matter. So we do not abandon a room built on the principle of taqwa (if God wills) for a room where we do not know on what foundation it was built.
4. The history of your efforts for unity and gathering with others have proven that they are mere ruses and ambitions to break apart the others and to impose yourselves on them. Indeed you regrettably regard good intentions of some of the honest groups on the matter of uniting as a ripe opportunity for soft political domination. And no way should the believer be stung from one hole twice. So be honest with God and your Ummah in order for you to see us hurrying to you and relinquishing our room and groups.
And if you say fine but abundance is better than the scarcity, and the abundance defeats the brave.
We say to you: The Almighty has said: 'If there are one hundred enduring people of you, they will overcome two hundred. And if there are one thousand of you, they will overcome two thousand by God's permission. And God is with those who endure'- (al-Anfal 66).
And the Almighty has said: 'Those who think that they are meeting God have said: 'How many a small group overcame a big group by God's permission. And God is with those who endure"- (al-Baqara 249).
And excellent is the poet who says:
'Do not be amazed at my shortness as opposed to their tallness. For pride belongs to the lion, and not to the camel.'
Put to shame.
al-Zullal.