Ansar al-Sharia: A Takfiri group emerging from the womb of Rabaa sit-ins

In March 2014, a Jihadist group called “Ansar al-Sharia in the Land of Al-Kananah (Egypt)” claimed responsibility for perpetrating 19 assassination attempts against security forces that resulted in the deaths of 26 policemen in three governorates, namely Al-Sharqiya, Giza, Beni Sueif. The most famous attempts of them were the attack on the police station of a religious institute in Zagazig and the assassination of an officer and six non-commissioned officers.

Ansar al-Sharia is one of the most dangerous jihadist groups that emerged in Egypt following the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood after the June 30, 2013 revolution. The group carried out 24 terrorist operations against the police forces during the period from the end of January 2014 until March 2014 in the provinces of Sharqiya, Beni Sueif, and Giza.

The group included members of Hazemoun (a movement affiliated with Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, a member of the Salafist movement) and some sympathizers of the deposed President Mohamed Morsi. They were convinced of the group’s ideas and organizational plans aimed at committing acts of hostility against state institutions in retaliation for the overthrow of Morsi.

Soon after the formation of the Jihadist group, the Jihadist group quickly formed its own cluster cells in the three governorates mentioned above in order to carry out its plans targeting army and police officers. However, it had soon dismantled following the arrest of one of its elements on March 9, 2014. Ahmed Abdulrahman was assassinated after he killed the traffic policeman in the Zagazig province in the governorate of Sharqiya. Abdul Rahman was the tip of the thread, which led the security forces to the rest of the leaders and members of the jihadist group.

The 23 Ansar al-Sharia members were charged with killing an officer and 11 policemen, attempting to kill nine others and a citizen, and possessing and manufacturing firearms and explosives.

Although the activities of this group did not last long, it succeeded in raising controversy and questions about its inception, ideas, organizational structure, and its top leaders.

The emergence of Ansar al-Sharia

The emergence of Ansar al-Sharia dates back to the period following the outbreak of the sit-in of Rabaa al-Adawyia and al-Nahda on August 14, 2013. Al-Sharqiya was the main stronghold of the group and the first cradle of its birth. It was formed by a group of supporters of Sheikh Madin Ibrahim, under the leadership of El-Sayyed Atta Mohamed Morsi, nicknamed “Abu Omar” (born 1/1/1978, Sharqiya).

After six years of work, as a memorizer of the Qur’an in the Prophet’s Mosque in Saudi Arabia, El-Sayyed Atta returned to Egypt in September 2013 and was influenced by his friend Muhammad Abdul Rahim, a member of the Ansar al-Maqdis group in northern Sinai. Abdel Rahim invited El-Sayyed Atta to follow up jihadist forums and convinced him of the priority of jihad in Egypt instead of his travel to jihad in Syria against the Syrian regime.

In January 2014, Mohamed Abdel Rahim succeeded in persuading El-Sayyed Atta to establish a new organization affiliated with the Ansar al-Maqdis organization in northern Sinai. They called this nascent organization Ansar al-Sharia in the land of al-Kananah.

The terrorist group relied on two very dangerous jihadist elements that carried out most of its assassination plans against the security forces and the police. The two elements are Ahmed Abdul Rahman who carried out more than 19 operations and Ammar al-Shahat Abu Sabha who was born in 1993 and was arrested following the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak. Only in Sharqiya governorate, the two elements carried out 14 operations against the police, while they succeeded in perpetrating three operations inside Beni Sueif Governorate as well as two operations in Giza Governorate.

Ansar al-Sharia embraced jihadist ideas, which were transformed from the ideological and religious stage to the practical experience. These ideas were summarized as follows: “The ruling of Shari’a, loyalty and innocence, infidelity of the tyrant and the necessity of fighting the abstained group”. The Jihadist Group set out a strategy to apply its takfiri ideas on targeting army and police forces.

The strategy of the jihadist group

The organizational strategy, which was set by the takfiri group, came in two directions:

The first is cultural, led by Madin Ibrahim Mohamed Hassanein as the legitimate official of the group. He focuses on rehabilitating the elements of the group, culturally and ideologically, instilling the ideas of the takfiri organization and emphasizing jihad against the ruling regime and its collaborators.

The second was the military axis, led by Hani Salah Ahmed Fouad Badr, whose name was Hani al-Salafi (one of the elements who participated in the Jihad in Syria and returned to Egypt after the overthrow of Morsi). This axis trains the Jihadist elements on the manufacture of explosives, the preparation of improvised explosive devices, and how to monitor vital installations in preparation for targeting them.

From the military rehabilitation program of the group, three working groups have emerged:

The first is the assassination and execution group, which includes Ahmad Abdulrahman Abdu Hassan, Ammar Al Shahat Mohammed Ibrahim Sabha (both from Sharqyia governorate), Mideh Ramadan Hassan Alaeddin and Mohammed Saeed Abdulrahman Gad (both from Beni Sueif governorate). The second is the one concerned with the manufacture of explosives, and includes 6 elements from the governorates of Sharqiya and Beni Sueif. The third is the monitoring group, responsible for monitoring public installations and photographing important and vital places, and providing information on the areas of presence of armed forces officers and police officers.

Based on the above, the experience of Ansar al-Sharia which did not last long represented many indications, including:

• The period after the overthrow of the deposed President Mohamed Morsi, from 2013 to 2014, was dominated by the minds of a large number of Muslim Brotherhood members with jihadist tendencies. This period witnessed many polarizations, both religious and political, and sparked media incitement to violence through Muslim Brotherhood platforms in Turkey, the most famous of which is the “Makmaleen” and “Al Sharq” channels.
• Some Brotherhood-affiliated preachers also exploited political events in the country to incite violence against the ruling regime and state institutions. They signed a statement called “The Call of al-Kananah” stating that it is the Muslim religious duty to resist the regime of Egypt, which it described as the “enemy of Islam”.