Ansar Beit el-Maqdis

**Ansar Beit el-Maqdis** (Arabic: انصار بيت المقدس *anṣār bayt al-maqdis*; lit. "supporters of the holy house") was a Salafist extremist rebel group with links to al-Qaeda that fought against the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), the Egyptian Army, and rebel factions such as Arab Christian militias and the secular Palestinian National Salvation Front (PNSF) during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the 1976–1979 Sinai War. Its stated goal was to found an Islamic state in Palestine, with a strict spin on Sharia and the implementation of *hudud* (corporal) punishments. The group was influenced by Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda; however, its claim to being the military wing of the Muslim Brotherhood was publicly denied by that group. It was nonetheless the most powerful and influential armed Islamist faction during the 1967–1979 Israeli occupation of Palestine. It was classified as a terrorist organisation by the governments of Israel, Palestine, Syria, Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.

During the war, the group was notorious for its sectarian brutality. In newly-conquered territory and cars stopped at checkpoints, the rebel group would often demand identification from civilians, and upon establishing their religious identities as being non-Sunni, would execute them on the spot (often including women and children). This led to the establishment of Christian militias in Christian-majority areas threatened by Ansar, as their communities originally sought to remain neutral but were forced on the defensive after the breakdown of law and order during the war.

At one point, the group controlled over three-quarters of the Sinai countryside and the southern half of Gaza, cutting of Gaza City from the Sinai. It received considerable support from some highly conservative rural populations (many of whom had migrated from their farms to urban areas due to recession and drought just before the outbreak of war). It also was highly influential in the West Bank, especially among non-PNSF militias before 1975, but never managed to control territory or gain a solid foothold in the region. The group was almost completely eradicated after most of its leadership was arrested in 2002 by the Political Security Directorate. However, it has resurfaced since 2011 and carried out sporadic attacks against security forces and civilians in the Sinai.

In 2014, the group's leadership pledged allegiance to and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a terrorist organization in Iraq and Syria. However, the Ansar leadership rejected the merger, leading to a schism. The group officially changed its name to ISIL-Sinai Province, but continues to use the Ansar brand. Throughout most of 2015, the some divisions refused the ISIL merger, leading to a breakdown in relations which culminated in a sort of internal civil war. Rafah and Arish witnessed several assassinations, mostly of anti-ISIL Ansar dissident leaders, as well as a suicide bombing in Sheikh Zoweid which destroyed a suspected safehouse used by Ansar dissidents. Most of the group was pro-ISIL by 2016. However, after ISIL's near-defeat in Iraq and Syria later the same year, Ansar has found itself mostly independent again. Many observers have commented that, since 2017, the group is an ISIL branch in name only.

Ansar was responsible for the November 2017 El-Rawdah Massacre, in which over 300 unarmed civilians were murdered during Friday prayers at the central mosque of Al-Rawda, a predominantly Sufi town. After the massacre, at least 20 of the attackers were killed in their convoy as they escaped the scene of the attack by air strikes conducted by the Palestinian Navy. A week later, 30 more members were arrested or killed after their hideout in Nekhel was discovered, which was thought to be the main base of operations for the ISIL-aligned group.