Key statistics

2013
First Recorded Activity

First Attack

Profile Last Updated

How to Cite

Crenshaw, M., & Robinson, K. (2025). Mapping Militants Project. Rice University. https://doi.org/10.25613/G0K4-WF70
Mapping Militants Project. “Kurdish Islamic Front.” Last modified . https://mappingmilitants.org/node/432/

Profile Contents

Narrative

Narrative of the Organization's History

Organization

Leadership, Name Changes, Size Estimates, Resources, Geographic Locations

Strategy

Ideology, Aims, Political Activities, Targets, and Tactics

Interactions

Foreign Designations and Listings, Community Relations, Relations with Other Groups, State Sponsors and External Influences

Maps

Mapping relationships with other militant groups over time in regional maps

Main Tabs Group

Overview
Formed: 
January 1, 2013
Disbanded: 
January 1, 2014

The Kurdish Islamic Front (KIF) was founded by Islamic activist Sheikh Abu Abdullah al-Kurdi and the Syrian militant group Ahrar al-Sham in 2013. The KIF joined the Islamic Front, an alliance of Syrian opposition forces operating in the Syrian civil war. The KIF allegedly joined the Islamic Front to combat the impression that the Islamic Front's conflict with the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) was ethnically motivated. The KIF was the Islamic Front’s smallest member, and it began targeting the Assad Regime, the Islamic State, and the YPG as part of the Islamic Front’s offensives in early-2014 in northern Syria. The KIF fought alongside Ahrar al-Sham and adopted its ideologies and military goals. The group officially merged with Ahrar al-Sham after the Islamic Front fragmented in mid-2014.

Organization

Vertical Tabs

Strategy

Vertical Tabs

Interactions

Vertical Tabs