The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), an Al Qaeda branch that fights under the banner of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), used a propaganda video from Syria to encourage Muslims to wage jihad in China. Hayat Tahrir al Sham played a leading role in overthrowing the regime of Bashar al Assad and is forming a new Syrian government.
The slickly produced TIP video was published by Islam Awazi, the group’s official propaganda outlet. The video was republished on X by Arslan Hidayat (@arslan_hidayat).
The video, titled “Fight, don’t retreat,” features scores of TIP fighters marching in formation, training at camps, and engaging in combat in Syria. The fighters at the camps are well-equipped with new uniforms, body armor, chest rigs, and weapons. In one scene, TIP fighters operate a tank and enter an armored vehicle.
The narrator repeatedly urges Muslims across the world to wage jihad, as “fighting in the way of Allah is the highest level [of worship] in Islam, to elevate Allah’s religion and to live under Islamic justice.”
“To sacrifice their property and their life for the sake of Jihad; for a human, it is a very big honor and blessing,” the narrator continues. He also says that it is the duty of Muslims to “do Jihad” and never lay down their arms.
“Oh Mujahid, do Jihad, go forward, never retreat, live with honor, never leave it. The moment you let go of your weapon is the moment you lose your honor; the moment you take off your uniform is the moment your dignity falls,” the narrator says.
Later in the video, the narrator appeals to Chinese Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic group that is brutally oppressed by the Chinese government, to return to their homeland and wage jihad.
“Your parents who are under China’s brutal oppression are expecting you,” the narrator states. “Your sisters being horrifically [sexually] violated in China’s prisons are bleeding tears.
“Oh Mujahid, [your people] are calling you to save them from the merciless oppression of the Chinese [government],” the narrator continues. “The blood from your umbilical cord was shed in that land [East Turkistan]. Oh Mujahid, [you people] are crying out for you to liberate them from the Chinese oppressors.”
The Turkistan Islamic Party, an Al Qaeda branch
The TIP is a branch of Al Qaeda based in both Afghanistan and Syria. Inside Afghanistan, the TIP has fought alongside Al Qaeda and the Taliban since before the US invasion in 2001 and up until the US withdrawal in August 2021. The TIP’s top leaders are based in Afghanistan, and its fighters in Syria report to them.
The TIP’s current overall emir, who presides over the Afghan and Syrian branches, is Abdul Haq al Turkistani. He is based in Afghanistan and appeared in a video in the spring of 2022 celebrating the Taliban’s victory over the United States and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
Abdul Haq was designated as an Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist by the US Treasury Department in 2009. In the designation, Treasury identified Abdul Haq as a member of Al Qaeda’s central shura, or council, since 2005. The United Nations has also added Abdul Haq to the Al Qaeda sanctions list.
The US government is reportedly considering removing Hayat Tahrir al Sham from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, even though the Turkistan Islamic Party and numerous other foreign and domestic jihadist groups are fighting under its banner.
