Database: Identifiers of Designated Islamic Terrorist Organizations

Naqshbandi Army

Not yet designated as terrorist by a Western country.
Base of operations: Iraq

Background: Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
Background: Key Updates on Iraq's Sunni Insurgent Groups

Jaysh Rijal al-Tariqa al-Naqshbandia ("Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order", more commonly known by the acronym from Arabic JRTN or simply the Naqshbandi Army) is a Sufi jihadi group led by Saddam Hussein's right-hand man Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri. While the group places emphasis on Sufi concepts like tasawwuf and uses the language of jihad, the Islamic face is very much secondary to its Ba'athist ideology reflected in its logos. The group aspires to resurrect the pre-2003 Ba'athist state and during the years of the Iraq War carried out attacks on coalition forces. To broaden its network, the Naqshbandi Army established front groups in the form of "Military Councils for the Revolutionaries of the Tribes" and has openly admitted influence on the political council of the General Military Council for the Revolutionaries of Iraq, which also has links with other Sunni insurgent circles like Harith al-Dari and the 1920s Revolution Brigades.

In keeping with the official non-sectarianism of Ba'athist ideology, the Naqshbandi Army claims support from non-Sunni Arab components of Iraq. Hope has been expressed for the Naqshbandi Army to be the Sunni insurgent force to roll back the rise of the Islamic State, but the group had a policy of avoiding mention of the Islamic State by name, even going so far as to condemn displacements of Christians and Yezidis in Ninawa province as a supposed Baghdad government conspiracy. Like other non-Islamic State Sunni insurgent actors, its influence has been marginalized, and the thesis of an 'alliance of convenience' between JRTN and the Islamic State can now be discarded.

Jihadi Slogan: "Victory from God and Conquest that is Near"	Naqshbandi Army Emblem	Naqshbandi Army: "Coming oh Baghdad"	Naqshbandi Army: Intifada Ahrar al-Iraq
Saddam-era Iraq Flag