Ansar al-Islam

Ansar al-Islam (Arabic: أنصار الإسلام‎ Anṣār al-Islām) was an insurgent Sunni group in Iraq and Syria. It was established in Iraq in 2001 as a Salafist Islamist movement that imposed a strict application of Sharia in villages it controlled around Biyara to the northeast of Halabja, near the Iranian border. Its ideology follows a literal interpretation of the Koran and promotes a return to the example of the first Muslims (Salaf). Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the group became an insurgent group which fought against the American led forces and their Iraqi allies. The group continued to fight the Iraqi Government following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and sent members to Syria to fight the Government following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War.

The group was a designated terrorist organization in the United Nations, Australia, Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States, and a known affiliate of the al-Qaeda network.

On 29 August 2014, a statement on the behalf of 50 leaders of Ansar al-Islam announced that the group was merging with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, thereby officially dissolving the organization. However, some elements within Ansar al-Islam rejected this merger, and continued to function as an independent organization.