Jihadist Reactions to the Events in Syria: The Case of Gaza's Saryat Hurras al-Masra

With the exception of the Islamic State that has predictably denounced the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham-led overthrow of the Assad regime as an un-Islamic revolution and has vowed to continue fighting the new government on the basis that it is an ‘apostate’ entity, reactions of jihadist groups to the developments over the last month or so have been largely positive. One of the jihadist entities to have commented most recently on the matter is a relatively new Gazan jihadist group called Saryat Hurras al-Masra (“Guardians of al-Masra Squadron,” with al-Masra referring to the site in Jerusalem where the Prophet Muhammad reputedly came by night on the creature al-Buraq and then ascended into the Seven Heavens).