Jaysh al-Islam ("The Army of Islam") was once one of the most prominent insurgent factions during the Syrian civil war, with the bulk of its forces having been based in the East Ghouta area located just to the east of Damascus city. Since leaving East Ghouta and moving to the insurgent-held areas in northern Syria in 2018, Jaysh al-Islam has simply become yet another faction in the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. Broadly speaking, Jaysh al-Islam has Salafi roots, but the faction came to mark itself in clear opposition to the jihadists of al-Qa 'ida and the Islamic State. Over time, it came to adopt imagery more clearly associated with the traditional 'Free Syrian Army' brand, and this remains the case today.
A good amount of media output now from Jaysh al-Islam's social media channels consists of reminiscing on the group's prior history in East Ghouta. In addition, a friend of mine- an academic focused on Syria- recently expressed his interest in more closely documenting the history of Jaysh al-Islam. This prompted me to revisit a summary account of the group's military history prior to the 2018 displacement from East Ghouta. This account was provided to me some time ago by the group's spokesman, but I never got round to publishing it until now. And so I publish this history in translation here for the sake of the archival record,
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