Egyptian Islamic Jihad
The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ, Arabic: الجهاد الإسلامي المصري), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad (Arabic: الجهاد الإسلامي) and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and then the Jihad Group, or the Jihad Organization, is an Egyptian Islamist group active since the late 1970s. It is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations as an affiliate of Al-Qaeda. It is also banned by several individual governments worldwide. The group is a proscribed terrorist group organization in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000.
| Egyptian Islamic Jihad | |
|---|---|
| الجهاد الإسلامي المصري | |
| Leaders | Muhammad abd-al-Salam Faraj |
| Dates of operation | 1979–2001 (merged with Al-Qaeda) |
| Merged into | Al-Qaeda |
| Headquarters | Egypt, then Afghanistan (unknown after 2001) |
| Active regions | Worldwide, but especially in:
|
| Ideology | Qutbism Sunni Islamism Salafist jihadism Wahhabism Anti-Communism Anti-Zionism |
| Notable attacks | Assassination of Anwar Sadat |
| Allies | State allies:
Non-state allies: |
| Opponents | State opponents:
|
The organization's original primary goal was to overthrow the Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic state. Later it broadened its aims to include attacking American and Israeli interests in Egypt and abroad. Since September 1998, the leadership of the group has also allied itself to the ‘global Jihad’ ideology expounded by Osama Bin Laden and has also threatened Western interests.
In June 2001, Al-Qaeda and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (which had been associated with each other for many years) merged into "Qaeda al-Jihad". However, the UN states that there was a split in the organization when the merger was announced.
Following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, former leaders of the group in Egypt formed a political party, called the Islamic Party, which became a member of the Anti-Coup Alliance following the 2013 Egyptian coup d'etat.