An Analysis of the Jaysh Khalid bin al-Waleed Military Database

Introduction

It is with great pleasure that I commence this project of the Islamic State Archives in collaboration with Aaron Zelin by presenting an internal database of military personnel for the Islamic State’s southern Syria affiliate Jaysh Khalid bin al-Waleed(“The Army of Khalid bin al-Waleed”- JKBW).

As an introduction for readers, JKBW was formed in May 2016 as a merger between three Syrian jihadi groups: Liwa Shuhada’ al-Yarmouk (“The Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade”), Harakat al-Muthanna al-Islamiya (“The Islamic al-Muthanna Movement”) and Jama’at al-Mujahideen (“The Group of Mujahideen”). The “Khalid bin al-Waleed” aspect of JKBW’s name refers to the Muslim conqueror Khalid bin al-Waleed, who defeated the Byzantines at the Battle of the Yarmouk, a key engagement that resulted in the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 7th century CE.

The group’s name becomes understandable when one notes that the formation of JKBW took place in the Yarmouk Basin region…