Road to the Caliphate: January 16-28

Primary Sources:

Shaykh Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī: “Don’t Do It, Otherwise It Will Stir Fitnah in the Land and Great Corruption”

Abū Bakr al-Ḥussaynī al-Baghdādī: “God Knows and You Do Not Know”

Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shām: “A Window Upon the Land of Epic Battles #43″

Dr. Ṭāriq ‘Abd al-Ḥalīm and Hānī al-Sibā’ī: “A Call For Reconciliation and Forgiveness Among the Mujāhidīn in al-Shām: [the Islamic] State, Jabhat al-Nuṣrah, Aḥrār al-Shām, and Other Brigades”

Dr. Ayman al-Ẓawāhirī: “Urgent Call to Our People in al-Shām”

Dr. ‘Abd Allah bin Muḥammad al-Muḥaysinī: “Mubādarah al-Ummah”

Jabhat al-Nuṣrah: “A Message of Support and Endorsement For ‘Mubādarah al-Ummah’ For Abū Muḥammad al-Jawlānī”

Shaykh Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī: “Oh, God, I Am Not Responsible From What Those Have Done: To His Brothers the Mujāhidīn in Syria Specifically and the Muslims in General: Message Addressed to All Factions and Not Just One Faction”

Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shām: “Position on the Initiative of Shaykh al-Muḥaysinī”

Local activists in Manbij ask why Shari’a Committee is wasting time sending forces to Jarabulus to fight ISIS

Syria-anti-ISIS graphic circulated by Jarabulus activists

Liwa Dawoud splitting from ISIS

Senior Ahrar al-Sham official and AQ-appointed mediator Abu Khaled al-Suri has issued statement blaming ISIS for “crimes” during Syria jihad

Having previously lost ground, ISIS celebrates takeover of Jarabulus after reinforcements came from al-Bab

Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham seizes bases of Liwa Rayah ash-Shamal in Latakia province

Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham outlines conditions of repentance in Raqqa for rival battalions

Islamic State of Iraq & al-Sham works to restore electricity to new Aleppo-province stronghold of al-Bab

All FSA-banner factions in Tel Hamees, Hasakah province, pledged allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq & al-Sham

Statement by Abu Abadah al -Maghribi, a shari’i in the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham

Claims that ISIS captured Manbej and FSA retreats from city

Dawa posters on a bus in the city of Raqqa

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, a photo said to be from Manbij

ISIS statement being distributed in al-Bab city. Calls for all that fought them to repent and hand in weapons (1)

Approximately 1000 gas cylinders distributed among the people of Maskanah, by ISIS, after expulsion of ‘Sahawat’

ISIS public service in Wilayat Badiyah cleaning the streets

In the city of Raqqa, ISIS rigorously enforces attendance for prayers; with streets empty at prayer times

Islamic State of Iraq & al-Sham suicide bombing attempt on FSA-banner checkpoint in Anadan, Aleppo province

Raqqah Islamic Center: 15 days of Shari’i learning followed by upwards of a month of military training for ISIS recruits

Bayah of the Albu ‘Izz al-Din clan of the al-Akidat tribe in Deir al-Zour

ISIS reportedly forgave 120 FSA members in Manbij who ‘repented’

Niqab: Distribution center in Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham-Controlled Raqqa city

Syria: Lesson timetable for children attending Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham’s educational institute in Raqqa

Liwa al-Mujahid Omar al-Mukhtar in Abu Kamal rejects fighting Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham

Tel Rahal, a village in Aleppo province now controlled by Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham

Secondary Sources:

Al Qaeda offshoot imposes strict Islamic rules in north Syria – Reuters

ISIS bans music, imposes veil in Raqqa – Al-Monitor