Ansar al-Sham is a Sunni militant group active in the Syrian Civil War, and it mainly fights against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies.[10] It was founded by Abu-Omar al-Jamil, who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. The group allows both foreign fighters and local Syrian people to join the group and the group is described to be made up of people who left the SAA, shopkeepers, and farmers.[11]