Ansar Bait al-Maqdis ("Supporters of the Holy House") was an Egyptian jihadist militant group based in the Sinai Peninsula amid the Sinai insurgency. ABM was founded as a merger of several indigenous Salafi jihadist groups in the Sinai, which had ties to Salafi jihadis in Gaza or al-Qaeda. ABM's operations increased in the wake of the 2013 Egyptian coup d'etat, when they shifted their attention from Israel to Egyptian security forces and declaring the Egyptian Army and security forces "apostates" deserving of death. ABM became the main militant group in the Sinai insurgency, recruiting Bedouins, other Egyptians, and people of other nationalities. In 2014, ABM sent emissaries to ISIL in Syria to seek financial support, weapons, and tactical advice, and aBM swore allegiance to ISIL in exchange for ISIL's help; ABM evolved into Wilayat Sinai.