JIHADIST GROUP #9: East Turkestan Islamic Party (ETIP)

Name: East Turkestan Islamic Party (ETIP)

Previous name: East Turkistān Islāmic Movement (ETIM), Islamic Movement of East Turkistān (IMET), East Turkestan Islāmic Party (ETIP), Islāmic Party of East Turkestan (IPET) and Turkistan Islāmic Party of Turkistān (TIP).

Founded: 1997

Syrian Branch Founded: 2015

Headquarters: Afghanistan, Pakistan.

Syrian Branch Headquarters: Idlib, Syria

Military Operations Area: Syria (ETIP Syrian Branch) - No military activity by the central leadership.

Group composition: Uyghurs

Ideology: Jihadism

Typology: Armed group/insurgent

Leader: Abdul Haq at Turkistan.

Alliances: al-Qaeda, Taliban (ETIP leadership denies this alliance).

Syrian Branch Alliances: Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Muhojir Tactical, Ajnad al-Kavkaz, Jaysh Muhajirin wal Ansar, Yurtugh Tactical, Tavhid va Jihod, Malhama Tactical.

Syrian branch included in Liwa HTS until August 2024: Liwa Zaid bin Harita.

Summary

On 27 November 2024, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary Armed Forces and the opposition, in cooperation with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its operations room al-Fateh al-Mubin through the joint operations room “Management of Military Operations”, launched the largest military operation in recent years against regime-controlled areas in the north and north-west of Syria, in a surprise offensive that toppled the regime on 8 December 2024.

Alongside HTS and rebel and opposition factions, however, many jihadist groups have been active militarily, and often as major players in advances and conquests, mostly aligned with or integrated into HTS brigades.

For the past decade or so, thousands of Uyghurs, probably around 5,000, have left Xinjiang and gone to fight and live in Syria. There, they formed new groups, or in some cases created branches of existing groups, and after several years of independent activity, first aligned and then integrated with the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

After the fall of the Syrian regime, many Uyghur leaders were rewarded for their intervention in the Syrian scene. For instance, Abdulaziz Dawood Khudberdi Zahid was appointed emir of the TIP branch in Syria during a general assembly in Idlib, in the presence of hundreds of members of the Syrian branch of the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP).

In addition, it is important to mention that among the new officers of the Syrian army, two leaders and commanders of the Syrian branch of the Uyghur jihadist group the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) were appointed with the rank of major general: Abdulaziz Dawood Khudberdi Zahid and Abdulsalam Yasmin Ahmed (Sheikh Jalalidin, deputy emir of the TIP in Syria).

Overview: