Al-Quds Brigades

Overview

Al-Quds Brigades are the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, a terrorist organization committed to the destruction of Israel. The brigades attack Israeli civilians and military targets with small arms, explosives and rockets. They operate principally from the Gaza Strip, maintain armed networks in Judea and Samaria, and have claimed attacks from southern Lebanon. In 2023–2024, they were Gaza’s second-largest armed group after Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades. They are distinct from a separate force with a similar name established to support the Syrian army during the Syrian civil war.

Founding and ideology

Islamic Jihad formalized the Al-Quds Brigades as its military wing in 1992. Ziyad al-Nakhalah helped found the wing. Its formation gave the movement an organized force for attacks on Israel, building on the violent campaign associated with movement founder Fathi Shaqaqi. Following Shaqaqi’s assassination, the brigades carried out suicide bombings and other attacks against Israeli civilians.

The brigades’ objective extends beyond demands concerning Gaza or Judea and Samaria. In a 2006 interview, one of their figures described bearing arms to drive Israel from all land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. That formulation called for eliminating Israel throughout the area, rather than coexistence with the existing state.

History

During the Second Intifada, Islamic Jihad’s armed campaign included suicide bombings in Israeli cities as well as attacks near Gaza communities and military positions. The Al-Quds Brigades claimed the March 29, 2002 stabbing murders of Tuvya Viesner and Michael Orlanski at Netzarim in Gaza. In June 2007, brigades members used an armored jeep in an unsuccessful attack on Israel Defense Forces soldiers at the Kissufim crossing. The vehicle’s reported use of media markings became a point of controversy; Islamic Jihad denied that it bore a press insignia.

Rocket fire became another central part of the brigades’ operations. On March 12, 2014, Islamic Jihad launched a barrage from Gaza into Israel, and the brigades defended the fire on their official website. During the 2014 Gaza War, a brigades poster depicted rockets launched from Gaza and landing in Jerusalem, Dimona, Netanya and Tel Aviv. The Israeli Air Force killed Danial Kamel Mansour in Jabaliya on August 4, 2014. After the ceasefire, Islamic Jihad reported 123 of its operatives killed in the war. A later brigades website collection contained 119 photographs and names; researchers identified 96 dead operatives in it. The movement’s total covered Islamic Jihad operatives more broadly than the clearly identified brigades members.

Israeli strikes killed senior brigades commanders Tayseer al-Jabari and Khaled Mansour during Operation Breaking Dawn in August 2022. On May 9, 2023, Israel killed Khalil Bahitini, the brigades’ commander in northern Gaza, during Operation Shield and Arrow. These losses struck regional commands but did not end the organization’s operations.

Structure and leadership

Akram al-Ajouri leads the Al-Quds Brigades and is a senior Islamic Jihad figure. He was first elected to the movement’s politburo in September 2018. He survived an Israeli strike on his home in November 2019; his son was killed. The brigades have regional commands, battalions, rocket units, intelligence personnel and a military media apparatus.

Danial Kamel Mansour headed Islamic Jihad’s military wing in northern Gaza, sat on the brigades’ Military Council and ran its intelligence and information collection network in Gaza. Tayseer al-Jabari later headed the northern Gaza command, served as head of operations and coordinated with Hamas. He was responsible for launching hundreds of rockets into Israel. Khaled Mansour commanded forces in southern Gaza. Brigades records also identified Hamza Al Dahdouh as a deputy commander in the Zeitun Battalion’s rocket array, while the brigades identified Mohamed Naser Abu Huwaidi as a commander in their media war unit.

Funding and sponsors

The Iranian regime funds the Al-Quds Brigades and has trained Islamic Jihad fighters to produce and develop missiles in Gaza. Al-Ajouri maintains close ties with the regime’s Quds Force and the terrorist organization Hezbollah. Those ties connect the brigades’ local commands to a wider Iranian-backed network. Iran also supported other Gaza armed groups: in 2015, the regime sent millions of dollars to Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades under Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani’s orders. That payment concerned the Al-Qassam Brigades, a separate organization.

Attacks and operations

From Gaza, the Al-Quds Brigades have fired rockets toward Israeli population centers and attacked soldiers near the border. In northern Judea and Samaria, they are active around Nablus and Jenin. There, their fighters cooperate with Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades under the Jenin Battalion umbrella. The brigades also coordinate operations with other armed groups in Gaza. From southern Lebanon, they have claimed attacks along the Israel–Lebanon border.

During the Gaza war that began in 2023, the Al-Quds Brigades held Israeli women and children hostage in Gaza. They handed over civilian hostages during a November 2023 release. Brigades members and Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades appeared together before crowds during a handover, displaying their cooperation beyond battlefield operations.

Designations and international status

Islamic Jihad is designated a terrorist organization, and its armed wing has carried out attacks deliberately directed at Israeli civilians. After the October 7 attacks, the United States designated Al-Quds Brigades leader Akram al-Ajouri a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The designation followed scrutiny of Islamic Jihad’s leadership and its Iranian support.

Current status

The brigades remained an armed force in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, and southern Lebanon through the 2023–2024 war period. Their operations combined rocket fire, local armed cells and coordination with Hamas and other groups. Leadership losses in 2014, 2022 and 2023 did not sever the organization’s command structure: al-Ajouri continued to lead its military wing while regional units operated in multiple areas.