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A four-minute video posted on YouTube announces the establishment of the "Islamic Syrian Front" (Al-Jabha Al-Islamiyya Al-Suriyya), which includes 11 organizations and whose aim is to topple the Assad regime and establish an Islamic state. The new front calls on all the Islamic forces in the country to join it. The announcement is read out by Abu 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Suri, who is described as the front's official spokesman.
In response to the announcement, the Islamic Syrian website sooryoon.net welcomed the establishment of the front, and urged it to join forces with all the other Islamic forces in the country.
The following are excerpts from the announcement, followed by excerpts from the message on sooryoon.net:
"We, the broadest [coalition] of Islamic organizations operating in Syria, hereby announce the establishment of the Islamic Syrian Front... which follows the path of the Sunna according to the correct Salafi understanding, neither exaggerating it nor subtracting from it. [The front] aspires to topple Assad's regime and establish a civilized Islamic society governed by religious Muslim law, in which Muslims and non-Muslims alike will benefit from the justice of Islam.
"To achieve its objectives, the front will utilize numerous means, including armed activity to topple the Assad regime and bring [the Syrians] security, and [also] every kind of civil activity that is anchored in religious Muslim law: political [activity], da'wa [activity], cultural [activity], and humanitarian [activity]...
"The front strives to preserve the unity of [its] word and [its] ranks, avoiding division and dissent, and aspires to [reach an] understanding with all forces working for the sake of Islam... It includes [the following forces]: the Ahrar Al-Sham Brigades in all the Syrian provinces; the Al-Haqq Brigade in Homs; the Islamic Al-Fajr movement in the Aleppo province; Jama'at Al-Tali'a Al-Islamiyya in the rural areas of Idlib [province]; the Ansar Al-Sham Brigades in the Latakiya province; the Mus'ab bin 'Umayr Brigade in the rural areas of Aleppo [province]; Jaysh Al-Tawhid in Deir Al-Zor; the Suqour Al-Islam Brigade; the Al-Iman Fighting Brigades; the Special Operations Brigades; and the Hamza bin 'Abd Al-Mutalib Brigade in the Damascus province.
"The front is deployed throughout Syria to defend its faith and its people and to liberate its land, and its door is open to all Islamic organizations operating in our beloved Syria."
Sooryoon.net, an Islamic oppositionist Syrian website, welcomed the establishment of the front in a December 23, 2012 posting. The website called this "an important and excellent move of uniting the influential jihadi and Islamic forces in Syria, [which can] thwart the global conspiracy against the Syrian revolution," and which "gladdens the heart of all the believers and all the supporters of jihad and of jihadi activity in Syria today."
The website noted that, though the establishment of the front "is a clear indication that the revolutionary jihadi forces have found their way," it would nevertheless like to address his front and the other fighting organizations in Syria, and give them "some important advice for the next stage":
1. Continue efforts to unite forces and form ties with additional jihadi forces active in Syria, such as the Al-Tawhid Battalion, Suqour Al-Sham in Idlib, Ansar Al-Islam and Jabhat Al-Nusra, among others.
2. Form a political wing as soon as possible, comprising prominent figures who are well-versed in international and Syrian affairs, in order to prevent the jihadi forces and the Syrian people from being swindled in future negotiations.
3. Form a financial and foreign relations committee that will work to recruit Arab and Muslim support for the Syrian revolution, since public pressure can force the Arab governments to aid the jihad in Syria, whether they want to or not.
4. Avoid sectarian and ethnic conflict, media wars and other kinds of conflict, so as to focus on toppling the murderous Assad regime.
5. Provide services to the population and form ties with all the political forces in the country, including those that disagree with you, since no single organization can "carry Syria by itself."
