'Soldiers of the Caucasus')[15] is a Chechen-led[2] Salafi jihadist militant group in northwestern Syria, operating primarily in the mountainous and forested areas of Latakia Governorate.

In course of the Second Chechen War's last phase around 2009, numerous Caucasus Emirate fighters temporarily moved to Turkey, often for medical treatment, but were thereafter unable to return to Russia to continue their insurgency.

[6] The second one was Jamaat Jund al-Qawqaz ("Group of Soldiers of the Caucasus"), a small militia of Islamist Circassians from the Golan Heights and Jordan, which soon pledged allegiance (bay'ah) to Abdul Hakim.

[27] In May 2015, Ajnad al-Kavkaz officially declared that it was not part of or affiliated with the Caucasus Emirate or any other militant organization, instead being simply allied with numerous Syrian rebel groups.

[15] In late June 2016, Ajnad al-Kavkaz strongly condemned an ISIL terror attack against the Istanbul Atatürk Airport, reaffirming their stance that the targeting of unarmed civilians is against their principles.

[16] When the government responded to the offensive by launching intense counter-attacks, Ajnad al-Kavkaz became involved in brutal fighting for the hills at the village of Ayn Issa.

[30] Abdul Hakim al-Shishani's men went on to take part in a rebel offensive aimed at breaking the siege of insurgent-held eastern Aleppo in late 2016,[10] and other operations in northern Hama Governorate in 2016[17] and 2017.

[31][32] After this joint statement, Ajnad al-Kavkaz largely "disappeared from public view", though it continued to carry out raids against government positions in the western Aleppo Governorate in May and July 2017, cooperating with Malhama Tactical.

[11] In early August 2018, Abdul Hakim al-Shishani and Ajnad al-Kavkaz released a statement on the death on Yusup Temerkhanov, the murderer of Yuri Budanov.

[40] Russian media claimed in late January 2019 that the Syrian Army had killed Abu Al-Bara al-Kavkazi, an alleged "ringleader" of Ajnad al-Kavkaz who had been in charge of logistics and recruitment.

[41] On 3 March 2019, Khamza al-Shishani, the deputy emir of the group, was reportedly killed fighting alongside Ansar al-Tawhid in an attack against Syrian government troops in Hama Governorate.

[42] In May 2019, pro-government forces reportedly attacked areas in northern Latakia as part of the Northwestern Syria offensive (April–August 2019) which had served as an Ajnad al-Kavkaz stronghold.

[44] Three months later, Syrian government forces reportedly captured Misherfah in southern Idlib Governorate from a joint garrison of Ajnad al-Kavkaz and Tahrir al-Sham troops.

[23] Journalist Humam Issa reported that as Tahrir al-Sham began to exert more control over Idlib, it "tightened the noose around" Ajnad al-Kavkaz and arrested several of the group's allies.

[51] By October 2022, about 25 Ajnad al-Kavkaz fighters including the leader Abdul Hakim al-Shishani had left Idlib to fight in Ukraine in coordination with the Sheikh Mansur Battalion.

[54] After the fall of the Assad regime, Ajnad al-Kavkaz fighters filmed themselves in the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus on 9 December,[55] declaring that "We want to celebrate this victory with all our Muslim brothers and sisters."

[26] In regards to the group's operations, Abdul Hakim al-Shishani has said that all enemy armed forces are legitimate targets, but disapproves of attacking unarmed civilians, especially if they are Muslims.

[5] The group's primary aim, however, is to remove the Russian presence in North Caucasus and to establish an Islamic state there, though Abdul Hakim al-Shishani has claimed that these goals are currently unattainable, primarily due to Russia's power.