TERRORIST GROUPS
Hurras al-Din
( AS OF JANUARY 2026 )
OVERVIEW
Hurras al-Din, al-Qa‘ida’s affiliate in Syria, publicly announced its dissolution in early 2025, but former members of the group remain a threat because they will likely continue to engage in terrorist activity against US and allied interests in the Middle East. The group’s dissolution announcement called for Sunnis in Syria to not lay down weapons but to prepare for the “coming stages.”
Hurras al-Din became al-Qa‘ida’s formal presence in Syria in February 2018. Members of the Nusrah Front who were loyal to al-Qa‘ida formed Hurras al-Din when the Nusrah Front broke from al-Qa‘ida and joined other groups to form Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. Hurras al-Din adheres to al-Qa‘ida’s Salafi-jihadist ideology, which advocates attacks against the West and Israel to expel foreign influence from Muslim lands and set the conditions to form a new caliphate across the Levant.
OPERATING AREAS
Primarily in Idlib Province, Syria, although it carried out attacks in Ar Raqqah Province, Damascus, and Latakia
MEMBERS
Before Hurras al-Din’s public dissolution in January 2025, between 2,000 and 2,500 fighters
TACTICS AND TARGETS
Before its dissolution, Hurras al-Din primarily used small arms and VBIEDs to target proregime and Syria-based Russian forces. The collapse of the former regime led to a profusion of weapons and materiel in Syria, giving former Hurras al-Din members opportunities to acquire a wide array of weapons that they could use to target US and Israeli interests in the region.
TERRORIST GROUP DESIGNATION
In September 2019, the US State Department designated Hurras al-Din a foreign terrorist organization and designated overall amir Faruq al-Suri a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
KEY LEADERS
Samir Hijazi
a.k.a. Faruq al-Suri
Amir
Sami al-‘Uraydi
Ideologue
NOTABLE ATTACKS
March 2025
Latakia and Tartus, Syria
Hurras al-Din members participate in widespread violence against religious minorities, resulting in more than 1,000 casualties, mostly among Alawite civilians.
April 2023
Latakia, Syria
Hurras al-Din participates in an attack, which Ansar al-Islam leads and claims, against an Iranian outpost.
January 2021
Ar Raqqah Province, Syria
Hurras al-Din detonates an explosives-laden vehicle outside a Russian military base, resulting in an unspecified number of casualties.
August 2021
Damascus, Syria
Hurras al-Din attacks a Syrian Republican Guard bus, killing one person and injuring three, marking the group’s first known attack inside Syria’s capital.