The Islamic Muthanna Movement is a Syrian independent Daraa-based Salafist rebel group that has been active during the Syrian Civil War. After its formation in 2012 as the “Muthanna bin Haritha Vanquisher of the Persians Battalion”, it expanded to a sizable group. The group has been described by the As-Safir newspaper as “one of the most powerful armed factions in Daraa”.
The group has joined multiple operations rooms. The movement worked with a unit of Ahrar ash-Sham called the Harmayn Brigade and the al-Nusra Front in July 2013. The group worked with another unit of Ahrar ash-Sham named Aknaf Bayt al-Muqadis as well as three other Islamist groups on 20 October 2013. The movement joined an operation room with other hardline Islamist groups in Daraa on 3 March 2015 which included the al-Nusra Front, Ahrar ash-Sham and Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.
Although the group is considered close to al-Nusra, there were reports it declared its support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in March 2015. It subsequently came into conflict with the Free Syrian Army-aligned Liwa al-Mutaz Billah group. However, on 25 March 2015, it supported the FSA in taking the town of Bosra.
