OVERVIEW

‘Abdallah ‘Azzam Brigades flag

The ‘Abdallah ‘Azzam Brigades (AAB) was a Sunni Islamist militant group operating in Lebanon, Syria, and the Arabian Peninsula under the auspices of al-Qa‘ida, although there was never a formal relationship between the two groups. AAB was named after the influential jihadist ideologue Abdallah Yusuf Azzam. Saleh al-Qarawi formed AAB in 2009 per the instruction of then-amir of al-Qa‘ida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to establish an organization focused on targets in the Levant. AAB promoted sectarian violence against Iranian-backed regimes in Lebanon and Syria and threatened Western interests in the Middle East, including conducting attacks in Israel and the Persian Gulf. In late 2019, after several years of dormancy, the group’s amir, Surajuddin Zureiqat, announced AAB’s dissolution in a public statement.

OPERATING AREA
Based in Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and the Arabian Peninsula

MEMBERS
No longer active

TACTICS AND TARGETS
Primarily employed rocket attacks, suicide bombings, and the limited use of seaborne VBIEDs, focusing mostly on Iranian-aligned targets in Lebanon and Syria as well as US interests in Israel and the Persian Gulf.

FOREIGN TERRORIST GROUP DESIGNATION
The US Department of State designated AAB as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in May 2012, amending the designation in November 2017 to add additional aliases—the Marwan Hadid Brigades and Marwan Hadid Brigade—that the group operated under in Syria. AAB’s founder and former amir, Saleh al-Qawari, was named a Specially Designated Global Terrorists in mid-December 2011.

KEY LEADERS

NOTABLE ATTACKS