Does Kurdish jihadist group threaten Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in north Syria?

Ansar al-Islam is a Kurdish Salafist and jihadist group operating in the Kurdistan mountains in northern Iraq all the way to Latakia in Syria, fighting against the Syrian government.
Opposition fighters belonging to Ansar al-Islam and Ahrar ash-Sham walk on a street next to the frontline that divides rebel and regime-controlled areas in the Tadamon neighborhood, south of Damascus, and near the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp, Syria, June 15, 2015.
Opposition fighters belonging to Ansar al-Islam and Ahrar ash-Sham walk on a street next to the frontline that divides rebel and regime-controlled areas in the Tadamon neighborhood, south of Damascus, and near the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp, Syria, June 15, 2015. - Rami al-Sayed/AFP via Getty Images
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Sultan al-Kanj
@AlkanjSultan

IDLIB, Syria — Ansar al-Islam is considered a Salafist-jihadist movement seeking to establish an “Islamic state” according to its own vision and Islamic governance in a bid to obtain and preserve the “legitimate rights” of the Kurdish people.

The group was established in September 2001, basing itself in northeastern Iraq, notably in the areas of Iraqi Kurdistan.

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