Untitled Agreement [between Suqur al-Sham Brigades and Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)]

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Country/entity: Syria
Region: Middle East and North Africa
Agreement name: Untitled Agreement [between Suqur al-Sham Brigades and Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)]
Date: 6 Jan 2014
Agreement status: Multiparty signed/agreed
Interim arrangement: Yes
Agreement/conflict level: Intrastate/local conflict
Saudi-Yemeni Border Dispute (1934 - 2000)
The Saudi-Yemeni border dispute goes back before the Treaty of Taif signing in 1934 which ceded the provinces of Asir, Najran and Jazan to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after a brief border war. However, the Treaty did not demarcate a large stretch of the 1,300-mile border between the two countries. Moreover, none of the regimes of the Yemeni Republic (North Yemen) following the 1962 revolution recognised the Taif Treaty. In 1973 a joint communique regarding the border was signed but subsequently fell through. Tensions further increased after Saudi Arabia expelled over 1 million Yemeni migrant workers following Yemen’s support for Iraq in the 1990-1991 Gulf War. Talks in 1992 on the border and subsequent provisional agreements fell through. In 1994 and 1995 attacks on Saudi border posts occurred during and after the Yemen Civil War, when Saudi Arabia supported the Socialist South. Again, in 1995, a memorandum of understanding was signed in order to resolve the issue peacefully. However, the conflict escalated in May 1998, when a Saudi outpost was attacked on a disputed Island in the Red Sea. Saudi forces retaliated in a pitched battle on a Yemeni contingent on Duwaima Island in July. The conflict ended following the 'International Boundary Treaty' in June 2000 and entered into force a month later. With this treaty Yemen finally formally recognised the Treaty of Taif to resolve the boundary line. In return, Saudi Arabia agreed to relinquish its additional land and maritime territorial claims outside the 1934 boundary line.

Yemeni Wa’ila tribes living on the borders, however, do not acknowledge the Treaty. They accuse Saudi-Arabia of confiscating their lands in the regions of Sallah, Qafrat Sallah, Khubbash. In June 2006 the tribes announced they would resort to force to regain the territories if not being taken seriously, and warned the Yemeni government against compromises.
Syrian Conflicts (1948 - ) (1976 - 2005) (2011 - )
The agreements relate to three different conflict contexts. Israel-Syria and Syria-Lebanon. The Syrian-Israeli conflict was a key factor for the Syrian intervention during the Lebanese Civil War, with Syrian-backed Palestinian Liberation Army units intervened in 1976 against the Palestinian/Leftist militias. Following a massacre at Tel al-Zaatar that year, Syria was forced to accept a ceasefire at a meeting of the Arab League. However, the Arab League also mandated an Arab Deterrence Force, consisting of mostly Syrian soldiers with token contributions from other Arab League states, thus further legitimizing the Syrian presence in Lebanon. During a second bout of fighting that began in 1989, caused by the formation of rival Lebanese regimes in East and West Beirut, the Syrian-backed regime won and in 1991 the ‘Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination’ was signed to legalize the Syrian occupation as a means to ensure the security of Syria. Syrian forces were forced to withdraw in 2005 following possible involvement in the assassination of Lebanon’s President Hariri.

Syria-internal. In 2011, domestic upheaval following a wave of protests across the Arab World soon led to violent repression of protestors by Syrian government troops. The violence progressed steadily and by July 2011 the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was formed consisting of defected military units and new recruits. The FSA and rebel umbrella group known as the Syrian National Council represented the first attempt at coordinating rebel factions in late 2011. However, a steady influx of foreign fighters and increased sectarianism radicalised opposition groups, which relied on foreign funding. The nature of the conflict changed drastically in late 2013 as infighting among the opposition groups increased. One of the more significant developments was the split between the al-Qaeda outfits the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS), and Jabhat al-Nusra in early 2014 in addition to the intensified targeting of other rebel factions by ISIS fighters in particular, including the Kurdish Peshmerga, the FSA and other jihadist outfits. Since the summer of 2014, the conflict was further internationalized when ISIS announced the formation of an Islamic state eroding the state line between Iraq and Syria and also in mid-2015 when Russian forces intervened on behalf of the Bashar al-Assad government in Damascus.
Stage: Ceasefire/related
Conflict nature: Inter-group
Peace process: Syrian Local Agreements
Parties: Suqur al-Sham Brigades [Hawks of Syria Brigade]
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant [ISIS; ISIL]
Third parties: -
Description: Short ceasefire agreement and the agreement that no party to the agreement may support any other faction in the Levant that 'fights in the path of God'. Agreement also calls for the establishment of a Sharia court to help implementation.

Agreement document: SY_140106_Hawks of Syria and ISIS Agreement in Hama_EN.pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF
Agreement document (original language): SY_140106_Hawks of Syria and ISIS Agreement in Hama_AR.pdf (opens in new tab)| Download PDF

Local agreement properties

Process type: Isolated example
Rationale: Local issues only, no external support mechanism, no culture of signing No formally-established mechanism supported the negotiation between the two Salafi armed groups. Moreover, this agreement cannot be linked to the national peace process. Indeed, both groups have a Salafist ideology; they oppose the rule of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and reject the idea of a national negotiation to solve the conflict. This agreement is one of its kind because ISIS accepts to dealing with a group that was once part of the Western-aligned FSA, which is a significant step.
Is there a documented link to a national peace process?: No
Link to national process: articulated rationale: No link to the national peace process in Syria is mentioned in the agreement, neither it can be inferred from further research. First, the agreement does not involve local governance actors; and the signing parties themselves are not official state representative. Second, all parties to the agreement reject the national peace process, as it would maintain Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government in power.
Name of Locale: NA
Nature of Locale: Region
GPS Lat/Long (DD): 34.851288, 37.861475
Participant type: Local armed group
International or transnational actor
Mediator, facilitator or similar: No mention of mediator or similar

Local issues

Ritual/prayer and process (including use of scripture): Page 1, In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate

Page 1, God says: “The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers [49:10].”
Following this reasoning, a peace agreement was made, and this is its beginning:

Page 1, No party, after signing this agreement, has the right to support any other faction in the Levant that fights in the path of God.
Grievance List: Although the agreement does not refer to specific causes of the conflict, it seems that the confrontation between Suqur al-Sham Brigades and Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant lies at the centre of the dispute.
Cattle rustling/banditry: No specific mention.
Social cover: No specific mention.

In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate

Untitled Agreement [between Suqur al-Sham Brigades and Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)]

God says:

“The believers are but brothers, so make settlement between your brothers [49:10].”

Following this reasoning, a peace agreement was made, and this is its beginning:

We, the Suqour al-Sham Brigades and its leader Abu ‘Isa al-Sheikh, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi agreed to:

Stop the fighting between them immediately and each party will not attack the other in any way.

No party, after signing this agreement, has the right to support any other faction in the Levant that fights in the path of God.

Moreover, if any of the parties attack the other one, a joint court of Sharia will be established between them to settle any disputes.

06/01/2014

[2 signatories]