Islamic Emirate of Rafah امارة رفح الاسلامية | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | |||||||||
Flag | |||||||||
Status | Unrecognized independent state | ||||||||
Capital | Rafah (claimed) | ||||||||
Official languages | Arabic | ||||||||
Ethnic groups | Palestinian Arabs | ||||||||
Religion | Salafi Sunni Islam | ||||||||
Demonym(s) | Rafahi | ||||||||
Government | Unitary Islamic emirate | ||||||||
Emir | |||||||||
• 2009 | Abdel Latif Moussa | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• Established | 14 August 2009 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 15 August 2009 | ||||||||
Currency | Israeli new shekel (de facto) | ||||||||
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The Islamic Emirate of Rafah was a short-lived unrecognized Islamic state located in Rafah. It was founded by Jund Ansar Allah when they declared independence in 2009, two years after the Hamas takeover of Gaza. It collapsed after the 2009 Battle of Rafah.
On Friday, 14 August 2009, the leader of Jund Ansar Allah, Abdel Latif Moussa, unexpectedly declared the creation of an Islamic emirate in the Gaza Strip before 100 of his armed followers at the Ibn Taymiyyah mosque in Rafah after the Friday prayer sermon. [1] During his sermon, the Salafist Moussa condemned the nationalist-Islamist Hamas for failing to implement proper Sharia law and "not being any different from a Secular government". [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Regarding the sermon as a challenge to their governance of the Gaza Strip, Hamas forces surrounded the mosque and demanded those inside to surrender. Exchanges of gunfire erupted into a seven-hour battle in which Hamas fighters sealed off the entire neighbourhood and fired rocket-propelled grenades at the mosque. [1] During the firefight, 24 Palestinians were killed and more than 130 injured. The dead included twelve Jund Ansar Allah members, six Hamas members and six civilians, including three young children aged 8, 10 and 13. An Egyptian National Security Agency official said a three-year-old boy from Egypt, across the Egypt–Gaza border, was critically wounded by a bullet which reached him from the fighting in Gaza. A Hamas fighter later went to Moussa's house to arrest him, and Moussa killed himself and the Hamas fighter by detonating his suicide belt after being cornered. [1] His house was rigged with explosives by Hamas forces. Abu-Jibril Shimali, head of Hamas' Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in the southern Gaza Strip, died in the fighting. Israel believes that Shimali orchestrated the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a June 2006 cross-border raid [2] [3] Hamas did not permit media coverage of the event, barring journalists from entering Rafah or interviewing the wounded. [2] [3] [7] [8] [9]
Following the clashes, a number of Al-Qaeda-affiliated Salafi jihadist groups condemned Hamas as an apostate movement that committed "massacre" and stated that Hamas's actions was made to "serve the interest of the Israeli settlers of Palestine and the Christians who are persecuting Muslims in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Iraq, and Somalia". [10] The anti-Hamas sentiment among Salafists was carried on by ISG. [11]
Websites associated with Fatah later released cellphone footage of what appeared to be Hamas executing Jund Ansar Allah fighters during the clash. The video showed Hamas militants gathering several Jund Ansar Allah fighters in the courtyard of the Mosque, and then mowing them down in a fierce burst of gunfire. Some of the Jund Ansar Allah men were shown lying motionless and bleeding on the ground. In two scenes, Hamas militants appeared to be shooting captives execution-style at close range, and bodies were seen falling to the ground. In another scene, a group of Jund Ansar Allah captives were seen standing motionless against a wall a few meters away. Israeli Channel 10 also broadcast a recording of what it said was the Hamas military communication channel, ordering Hamas forces to execute everyone. There was no immediate comment from Hamas officials. However, Hamas had previously denied that an execution took place at the site, or that members of Jund Ansar Allah were "massacred." [12] [13]
Following the battle, Jund Ansar Allah vowed to attack Hamas compounds and pro-Hamas mosques in revenge. On 29 August, bombs exploded inside a security compound and near a Hamas-affiliated mosque in Gaza City, according to security officials. Nobody was injured in the attacks. Jund Ansar al-Jihad wal Sunna, a previously unknown group, claimed responsibility for the attack, declaring: "We urge our jihadist brothers to join forces to conduct painful joint warfare against those miscreant murtadeen [Hamas] and end their reign." Associated Press said that "the two explosions appear[ed] to be revenge attacks against Gaza's Hamas rulers," and suggested a link with Jund Ansar Allah. [14]
Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan, simply called Ansar al-Islam, is a Kurdish Islamist militant and separatist group. It was established in northern Iraq around the Kurdistan Region by Kurdish Islamists who were former Taliban and former Al-Qaeda volunteers, which were coming back from Afghanistan in 2001 after the Fall of Kabul. It was formed with the motive of establishing an Islamic state around the Kurdistan region and protecting Kurds from other armed insurgent groups during the Iraqi insurgency. It imposed strict Sharia in villages it controlled around Byara near the Iranian border.
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The Battle of Rafah (2009) took place between Hamas and Jund Ansar Allah in the Rafah Governorate of the Gaza Strip. Fighting between the two Palestinian militant organizations broke out on 14 August 2009, when Jund Ansar Allah's founder Abdel Latif Moussa denounced the Hamas government for supposedly failing to enforce Islamic law and for "not being any different from a secular government" since it ousted Fatah during the Battle of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. He subsequently proclaimed the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Rafah and swore allegiance to al-Qaeda. In total, 26 people were killed and 150 were wounded during the conflict, including an 11-year-old Palestinian girl. Moussa was killed in Rafah on 15 August 2009, triggering the collapse of Jund Ansar Allah and the Islamic Emirate of Rafah.
Jund Ansar Allah was an armed Palestinian Salafi-jihadist organization operating in the Gaza Strip. It was founded in November 2008 by Sheikh Abdel Latif Moussa. On 14 August 2009, Moussa announced the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. The group criticized the ruling power, Hamas, for failing to enforce Sharia law. In response, Hamas attacked the organization, resulting in 24 people killed and a further 150 wounded. After the battle, Jund Ansar Allah ceased to exist.
Abdel Latif Moussa, also known as Abu Noor al-Maqdisi, was the leader of the Salafist Jihadist group Jund Ansar Allah, an Islamist group in Rafah, Gaza Strip. On 14 August 2009, he proclaimed the Islamic Emirate of Rafah in the Palestinian Territories and was killed the following day 15 August, when Hamas forces stormed his headquarters and residence.
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The Battle of Rafah primarily refers to any of the military engagements fought in and around Rafah, today in the Gaza Strip:
Events in the year 2009 in the Palestinian territories.
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: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)