Shishani traveled to Syria in 2012 at the request of Syrians who needed help training. Initially, the group was known as "the Chechen group", though the name of the group was changed once other nationalities, including Lebanese militants, started to join.[18] In total hundreds of foreign fighters were trained in its camps, including "European, Turkish and Caucasian" militants. A unit of around 30 Germans trained with the group as well.[1]
The group took part in the 2013 Latakia offensive. During this offensive, Junud al-Sham captured numerous points including the strategic hilltop village of Durin, earning Shishani the nickname Sopka Durin meaning "Durin hilltop" in Russian.[17]Sham Center, an outlet closely aligned with the group, released multiple videos. In one video Muslim talks about the capture of hilltop villages and the fact that they had 60 fighters of whom 40 were allocated to the battle.[17][19][bettersourceneeded] Sham Center also released another video in which it is said that six people were killed and another nine were wounded from Junud al-Sham. Muslim Shishani is among the wounded.[20][21]
During the 2014 Latakia offensive Junud al-Sham again was in a coalition with Ahrar al-Sham. During the initial stages of the offensive they had great success capturing swathes of areas in Latakia alongside the Turkish border including the border city of Kessab and the strategic Observatory 45.[6] Later the offensive turned into a stalemate[22] until the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) eventually reversed all gains around the middle of June.[23]
Unlike many other foreign mujahideen, Junud al-Sham remained mostly independent from other Syrian rebel groups. Many of its fighters defected to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant commander Abu Omar al-Shishani in 2014. The remainder of the group remained "combat-ready", and continued to take part in military operations in 2015.[4]
Junud al-Sham played an important role in the capture of Jisr as Shughour under a coalition alongside the Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria, Ahrar al-Sham and many other groups.[13] On 22 April, the first day of the offensive, he is seen alongside his deputies Abu Turab Shishani and Abu Bakr Shishani.[24][bettersourceneeded][25] They are overlooking the city and communicating by radio. Two days later Muslim is seen in the city[26] and on 26 April he is touring the city alongside Abu Bakr al-Shishani and a British fighter.[27][28][bettersourceneeded]
Financial difficulties caused a further decline with some sources claiming that the group was reduced to merely 30 fighters by early 2016. In a video address, Muslim Shishani consequently reproached other insurgent groups in Syria for not providing assistance, which regional expert Joanna Paraszczuk described as a "rant".[29] The problems were so grave that the deputy of Junud al-Sham, Abu Bakr al-Shishani, left the group in early 2016 to fight alongside Ajnad al-Kavkaz.[30] This continued until he founded his own jama'at in early 2017.[31]
Despite these reports, however, other reports suggested remnants of Junud al-Sham were still active by 2018. In January 2018, pro-government media reported that "a military source in Damascus" said the group took part in a major military campaign against the government in northwestern Syria.[35][bettersourceneeded] Meanwhile, the Turkish newspaper Yeni Akit claimed Shishani was participating in the Turkish military operation in Afrin.[36] However, Shishani denied that he or his followers were in Afrin, and confirmed he was in Hama, fighting alongside another Chechen militia, Tarkhan Gaziyev's Tarkhan's Jamaat.[9] A German foreign fighter with the group named Abu Khalid al-Shami said in an interview from 22 July 2019 that the group clashed with ISIL in Abu Dali.[37] Sometime between 2019 and 2021 the group relocated to Jisr as Shugour countryside.
During the summer of 2021 HTS arrested local criminals who were members of Junud al Sham. Shishani denied these claims and said that the criminals were not affiliated with the group. Despite this Junud al Sham was still forced by HTS to disband as part of a wider plan to unite all groups under the HTS banner.[2] Later in October, Junud al-Sham remnants who were still led by Muslim Shishani came in the crossfire of clashes between Jundullah, a fringe extremist group based out of Idlib, and HTS. HTS assured Shishani that Junud al Sham was not the target of these clashes but that Shishani and his fighters had to leave the area of operations.[7] That December, the Russian Air Force bombed his residence, killing a bodyguard and their child while failing to kill Shishani.[38]
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Ahrar al-Sham [6] 
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham [8] 
Group of the One and Only [10] 
Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria [11] 
Syria 
Iran 
Russia 
Syrian Resistance 
Hezbollah 
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant 
