The eruption of the anti-Assad revolution in Syria has had many unintended consequences, among which is the opportunity it offered Sunni jihadists to establish a foothold in the heart of the Middle East. That Syria's ongoing civil war is so brutal and protracted has only compounded the situation, as have developments in Iraq and Lebanon. Ranging across the battlefields and international borders have been dozens of jihadi Islamist fighting groups, of which some coalesced into significant factions such as Jabhat al Nusra and the Islamic State. This book assesses and explains the emergence since 2011 of Sunni jihadist organisations in Syria's fledgling insurgency, charts their evolution and situates them within the global Islamist project. Unprecedented numbers of foreign fighters have joined such groups, who will almost certainly continue to host them. Thus, external factors in their emergence are scrutinised, including the strategic and tactical lessons learned from other jihadist conflict zones and the complex interplay between Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State and how it has influenced the jihadist sphere in Syria. Tensions between and conflict within such groups also feature in this indispensable volume.

About the Author
Charles R. Lister is Resident Fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC. Previously, he was a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution's Doha Center, and head of the Middle East and North Africa section at IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre.

Reviews
'Lister's knowledge of the various groups is impressive... [The Syrian Jihad] is an indispensable guide to the different jihadi factions.' -New York Times; 'Lister has done yeoman's work in tracing how the peaceful uprising that began in 2011 was hijacked by an Islamist insurgency that now threatens global security. ... as [he] persuasively argues, ISIS is itself a product of Mr. Assad's evil regime.'-Wall Street Journal; 'Lister has produced a work that is required reading for both experts and the general reader alike.' -Prospect Magazine; 'Lister's book will certainly become a classic of the literature on the Syrian civil war. This richly-documented study actually consists of two intertwined histories, as the account of the Jihadi insurgency, a tour de force in its own right, is complemented with in-depth analysis of the broader military developments.' - Thomas Pierret, Lecturer in Contemporary Islam, University of Edinburgh and author of Religion and State in Syria: The Sunni Ulama from Coup to Revolution



Book Information
ISBN 9781849048729
Author Charles Lister
Format Paperback
Page Count 520
Imprint C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
Publisher C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd