
The Islamic Muthanna Movement was a Salafi jihadist group in Syria, named for the Rashidun general al-Muthanna ibn Haritha, who defeated Persia at the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah; this was analogous to the desired Muslim victory over Iran and their Syrian government allies during the Syrian Civil War. The movement was founded in 2012 in Daraa Governorate, and it used to be allied to the al-Nusra Front, Islamic Front, Syria Revolutionaries Front, and Free Syrian Army before harboring Islamic State sympathies and fighting with all of the other groups. By 2016, they were allied only with the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade and ISIS, and they fought the moderate opposition for Golan Heights and Jordanian border villages. The group and the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade fought against the al-Nusra Front and Ahrar ash-Sham on the Golan Heights border with Jordan in early 2016, and on 24 May 2016 the Islamic Muthanna Movement merged with the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade to form the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army after suffering heavy losses at the hands of the Army of Conquest.