Partisans of Jihad on the Sinai Peninsula (Jihadi Entity, Egypt)

• Local Name: أنصار الجهاد فى جزيرة السيناء
• Transliteration: Ansar al-Jihad fi-Jazirat al-Sina’a
• Alternatives: Al-Qa’ida on the Sinai Peninsula, Ansar al-Jihad in Northern Sinai
• Status: 2011 – 2012 Disbanded
• Conflicts: Sinai Islamist Insurgency

The Partisans of Jihad on the Sinai Peninsula [AJJS; Ansar al-Jihad fi-Jazirat al-Sina’a] was an Egyptian Islamist militant group that grew out of the Ramzi Mowafi-led al-Qa’ida on the Sinai Peninsula [AQSP; al-Qa’ida fi-Jazirat al-Sina’a]. It was apparently made up of AQSP operatives who wanted to play a more active role in the insurgency. In December 2011, the AJJS announced its formation in a statement distributed on the internet.¹ On Dec. 18, cadres of the outfit bombed and destroyed a segment of a gas pipeline.² In January 2012, the outfit declared its loyalty to new al-Qa’ida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.³ The AJJS again bombed a gas pipeline in the Sinai in February 2012.⁴ Following this attack, the group ceased operations. AQSP militants behind the AJJS likely returned to their role as logistical facilitators for other militant groups active on the peninsula.