Cessation of Hostilities between Jund al-Aqsa and Ahrar al-Sham (AAS) in Kansafra

• Country/entity

  Syria
  
• Region

  Middle East and North Africa
  
• Agreement name

  Cessation of Hostilities between Jund al-Aqsa and Ahrar al-Sham (AAS) in Kansafra
• Date

  8 Oct 2016
• Agreement status

  Multiparty signed/agreed
• Interim arrangement

  Yes
• Agreement/conflict level

  Intrastate/local conflict ( Syrian Conflicts (1948 - ) (1976 - 2005) (2011 - ) )
• Stage

  Ceasefire/related
• Conflict nature

  Inter-group
• Peace process

  Syrian Local Agreements
• Parties

  Jund al-Aqsa
  Ahrar al-Sham
  The Mountain Hawks Brigade
  Jabhat Fatah al-Sham
• Third parties

  -
• Description

  Short declaration by four insurgent groups announcing their withdrawal and a bid to end the conflict through the use of a Shariah Board.

• Agreement document

  SY_161008_CoH btw Jund al-Aqsa and Ahrar al-Sham in Kansafram, Idlib_EN.pdf | Download PDF
• Agreement document (original language)

  SY_161008_CoH btw Jund al-Aqsa and Ahrar al-Sham in Kansafram, Idlib_AR.pdf | Download PDF

Local agreement properties

• Process type

  Informal but persistent process
  
• Rationale

  -> Local issues only; no external support mechanism; culture of signing There is no formally established mechanism to support the negotiation between 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. Yet, it seems that both signing parties choose to solve daily pragmatic issues related to their armed struggle through agreements. Although one cannot speak of a “culture” of singing peace agreements, the parties are involved (in a non-proactive and non-conscious way) in a persistent practice of signing local agreements.
• 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

  Kansafra
• Nature Of Locale

  City
• GPS Lat/Long (DD)

  35.656127, 36.486457
• Participant type

  Local armed group
  
• Mediator, facilitator or similar

  No mention of mediator or similar

Local issues

In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate

Agreement (by Jund al-Aqsa and Ahrar al-Sham in Kansafra, Idlib)

Messenger of Allah said:

"A believer continues to guard his Faith (and thus hopes for Allah's Mercy) so long as he does not shed blood unjustly" (Hadith, al-Bukhari 1:220).

We, mujahideen [fighters] of the Jund al-Aqsa faction in the town of Kansafra and mujahideen of Ahrar al-Sham faction in the town of Kansafra, plead to the Almighty God from …[1]the blood by both factions.

Considering the strife, we ask God to …[2]and reform the Mujahideens’ affairs in Sham in general.

We declare our withdrawal from this fight and ask our brothers in both factions to end their conflict through the law of Almighty God by returning to the Sharia courts and experts in these kinds of incidents.

We send a letter to the leadership in both factions asking them not to send troops or columns to the town, even if only to pass through [since] it can exacerbatethe strife in the town.

We run the village administration and keep the order and [we do] not allow troops to enter the town to the Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.

[4 signatories]

Jund al-Aqsa

Ahrar al-Sham

The Mountain Hawks Brigade

Jabhat Fatah al-Sham