Jama'at al Tawhid wal Jihad

Origins

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was a Jordanian Jihadist who had traveled to Afghanistan to fight in the Soviet-Afghan War, but he arrived after the departure of the Soviet troops and soon returned to his homeland. He eventually returned to Afghanistan, running an Islamic militant training camp near Herat.

A report released by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in mid-2014 describes Al-Zarqawi as starting his jihadist group Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, with Jordanian and other Sunni Jihadist militants, in 1999 in Afghanistan with its training camp in Herat, Afghanistan, and with "a small amount of seed money" from Osama bin Laden "which continued until 9/11".

Ideology and motivation

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's interpretation of Islamic takfir—accusing other Muslims of heresy and thereby justifying his killing—was extreme, which caused friction between him and Osama bin Laden. On his first meeting with Bin Laden in 1999, Zarqawi reportedly declared: "Shiites should be executed".

Zarqawi's political motives included what he considered the U.N.'s "gift" of Palestine "to the Jews so they can rape the land and humiliate our people", the U.N.'s support for American "oppressors of Iraq", and the "humiliation [of] our [Muslim] nation".

In Jordan (1999–2001)

Al-Zarqawi started the group with the intention of overthrowing the 'apostate' Kingdom of Jordan, which he considered to be un-Islamic. After toppling Jordan's monarchy, presumably he would turn to the rest of the Levant.

For these purposes he developed numerous contacts and affiliates in several countries. His network may have been involved in the late 1999 plot to bomb the Millennium celebrations in the United States and Jordan.

In Jordan and Iraq (2001–2002)

Following the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, al-Zarqawi moved westward into Iraq, where he reportedly received medical treatment in Baghdad for an injured leg.

Al-Zarqawi was in Baghdad from May until late November 2002, when he traveled to Iran and northeastern Iraq. The U.S. 2006 Senate Report on Pre-war Intelligence on Iraq concluded: "Postwar information indicates that Saddam Hussein attempted, unsuccessfully, to locate and capture al-Zarqawi and that the regime did not have a relationship with, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward al-Zarqawi."

Al-Zarqawi and his operatives are held responsible by the US for the assassination of US diplomat Laurence Foley in Jordan in October 2002.

Involvement in the Iraq War (2003–2004)

Following the US invasion of Iraq and the ensuing insurgency, Jama'at became a decentralized militant network fighting against the coalition forces and their Iraqi allies. Jama'at included a growing number of foreign fighters and a considerable Iraqi membership, including remnants of Ansar al-Islam.

Many foreign fighters arriving in Iraq were not initially associated with Jama'at, but once they were in the country they became dependent on al-Zarqawi's local contacts.

Jama'at's tactics included suicide bombings, often using car bombs, kidnappings, the planting of improvised explosive devices, attacks using rocket-propelled grenades, small arms and mortars, and beheading Iraqi and foreign hostages and distributing video recordings of these acts on the Internet.

The group targeted the Iraqi Security Forces and those assisting the occupation, Iraqi interim officials, Iraqi Shia and Kurdish political and religious figures and institutions, Shia civilians, foreign civilian contractors, United Nations and humanitarian workers, and also Sunni Muslim civilians.

Following al-Zarqawi's pledge of allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network on 17 October 2004, the group became known as al-Qaeda in Iraq or Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn.

Attacks

After U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the establishment of a governing Provisional Authority, an insurgency quickly emerged. Dozens of insurgent attacks were claimed by, or attributed to, JTJ in the following months:

Inciting sectarian violence

Alleged sectarian attacks by the organization included the Imam Ali Mosque bombing in 2003 and the 2004 Day of Ashura bombings (Ashoura massacre) and Karbala and Najaf bombings in 2004. These were precursors to a more widespread campaign of sectarian violence after the organization transitioned to become al-Qaida in Iraq, with Al-Zarqawi purportedly declaring an all-out war on Shias, while claiming responsibility for the Shia mosque bombings.

Beheading/killing non-Iraqi hostages

The Turk Aytullah Gezmen was also abducted by Jama'at, but released after "repenting."

U.S. fighting Jama'at

In September 2004, the U.S. conducted many airstrikes targeting Zarqawi, calling the hunt for Zarqawi its "highest priority".

Legacy

The group pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network in a letter in October 2004 and changed its name to Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn (تنظيم قاعدة الجهاد في بلاد الرافدين, "Organization of Jihad's Base in Mesopotamia").

That same month, the group, now popularly referred to as Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), kidnapped and killed Japanese citizen Shosei Koda. In November, al-Zarqawi's network was the main target of the US Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah, but its leadership managed to escape the American siege and subsequent storming of the city.

The Lebanese-Palestinian militant group Fatah al-Islam, which was defeated by Lebanese government forces during the 2007 Lebanon conflict, was linked to AQI and led by al-Zarqawi's former companion who had fought alongside him in Iraq. The group may have been linked to the little-known group called "Tawhid and Jihad in Syria", and may have influenced the Palestinian resistance group in Gaza called Tawhid and Jihad Brigades.