In accordance with paragraph 13 of resolution 1822 (2008) and subsequent related resolutions, the Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee makes accessible a narrative summary of reasons for the listing for individuals, groups, undertakings and entities included in the Al-Qaida Sanctions List.
The Army of Emigrants and Supporters was listed on 6 August 2015 pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 4 of resolution 2161 (2014) as being associated with Al-Qaida for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of”, “supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to” or “recruiting for” Al-Qaida in Iraq (QDe.115) and Al-Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant (QDe.137).
The Army of Emigrants and Supporters was established in 2013. It was originally led by Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili (QDi.345) (also known as Omar Shishani). After Batirashvili pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Husayni al-Qurayshi al-Baghdadi, listed as Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali Al Badri Al-Samarrai (QDi.299), the leader of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) listed as Al-Qaida in Iraq (QDe.115), he left the Army of Emigrants and Supporters and joined ISIL. The group is still led by ethnic Chechen foreign terrorist fighters and made up of foreign terrorist fighters, including fighters from Turkey, Tajikistan, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, France, Egypt and Morocco.
The Army of Emigrants and Supporters has formed an alliance with other terrorist groups, including Al-Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant (QDe.137).
The Army of Emigrants and Supporters, along with other terrorist groups such as ISIL and Al-Nusrah Front, took part in what has come to be known as the Lattakia countryside massacres, which occurred in 2013 in ten villages in the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as other attacks. A large number of civilians, including women, children and the elderly, were killed in those attacks, while a number of other civilians were kidnapped. In 2013, the Army of Emigrants and Supporters claimed responsibility for the abduction and subsequent killing of a Russian national in Syrian Arab Republic.