Agreement between al-Nusra Front and factions of the armed opposition in Hafsarja

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Country/entity: Syria
Region: Middle East and North Africa
Agreement name: Agreement between al-Nusra Front and factions of the armed opposition in Hafsarja
Date: 19 Jul 2014
Agreement status: Multiparty signed/agreed
Interim arrangement: Yes
Agreement/conflict level: Intrastate/local conflict
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: Pre-negotiation/process
Conflict nature: Inter-group
Peace process: Syrian Local Agreements
Parties: Yaqoob al-Omar (Jabhat al-Nusra)
Muhammad Izzedine Khattab (Syria Revolutionaries Front)
Abdullah Al-Muhaisni (independent)
Yassin Alloush (Independent)
Abdel Mon’im Zaid Eddin (Independent)
Third parties: -
Description: Five-point agreement where parties agree to form a independant Shariah committee of notables to resolve the ongoing conflict in Idlib between Jabhat al-Nusra and some of the Free Syrian Army factions.

Agreement document: SY_140719_al-Nusra Front and factions of the armed opposition_EN.pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF
Agreement document (original language): SY_140719_al-Nusra Front and factions of the armed opposition_AR.pdf (opens in new tab)| Download PDF

Local agreement properties

Process type: Informal but persistent process
Rationale: -> Local issues only; external support mechanism; no culture of signing It is only the second case of a written agreement signed between a Salafi-jihadi group and a secular FSA factions (the other on 11/10/14). Moreover, sources state that the agreement relates to specific issues that arose in a highly localised context.
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. The agreement does not involve local governance actors, and the signing parties themselves are not official state representative.
Name of Locale: Hafsarja
Nature of Locale: Smaller
GPS Lat/Long (DD): 36.018454, 36.528940
Participant type: Local armed group
Domestic religious organisation/leader or other elder
Local community/civilian group(s)/civil society organisations
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 Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Praise be to God and prayers and peace be upon the most honorable of the Prophets, Muhammad and upon all his family and companions, and after:

Page 1, And that all parties are committed to implementing all rulings and decisions issued by this committee, praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds.
Grievance List: The agreement relates the grievances that arose from a ten day conflict between Jabhat al-Nusra and several Free Syrian Army faction in Idlib governorate. The agreement does not directly addresses those grievances but establishes a formal mechanism to resolve the dispute. According to sources, clashes erupted after the killing of two al-Nusra members at the checkpoint of Hafsarja village.
Cattle rustling/banditry: No specific mention.
Social cover: No specific mention.

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Praise be to God and prayers and peace be upon the most honorable of the Prophets, Muhammad and upon all his family and companions, and after:

It was agreed to form a Sharia committee to begin resolving the conflict in Idlib between Jabhat al-Nusra and some of the Free Syrian Army factions, provided that it begins its work within 48 hours of its date:

The committee is formed from the following individuals, the sheikhs:

1- Yaqoob al-Omar (Jabhat al-Nusra) [signature]

2- Muhammad Izzedine Khattab (Syria Revolutionaries Front) [signature]

3- Abdullah Al-Muhaisni (independent)

4- Yassin Alloush (Independent) [signature]

5- Abdel Mon’im Zaid Eddin (Independent) [signature]

And that all parties are committed to implementing all rulings and decisions issued by this committee, praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds.

20 Ramadan 1435 AH

19/7/2014