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

• 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)Syrian Conflicts (1948 - ) (1976 - 2005) (2011 - ) )
• 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 | Download PDF
• Agreement document (original language)

  SY_140106_Hawks of Syria and ISIS Agreement in Hama_AR.pdf | 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

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]