The Fighting Vanguard of the Mujahidin (Arabic: الطليعة المقاتلة للمجاهدين, romanized: al-Ṭāliʿa al-Muqātila lil-Mujāhidīn),[1] also known as the Fighting Vanguard of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria (Arabic: الطليعة المقاتلة للإخوان المسلمين في سوريا),[10] was an offshoot of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood that took part in violent actions against the regime of Hafez al-Assad during the Islamist uprising in Syria, mainly between 1976 and 1982.

Marwan Hadid, who came from a wealthy Sunni family from Hama, Syria, studied in Egypt and became influenced by the hardline cleric Sayyid Qutb.

[16][14] As the Fighting Vanguard's assassination campaign continued in the late 1970s, a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood left thousands of its members and their families arrested and tortured and most of the leadership in exile.

[18] In the aftermath of the 1979 Aleppo Artillery School massacre, the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria faced a crackdown and formally declared war on the Baath regime.

[3] Adnan Uqlah ordered a sectarian massacre of mostly Alawite military cadets in 1979 without the permission of the Fighting Vanguard's formal leader, Hisham Jumbaz, or its field commando in Aleppo.

[3][4][8] Besides those listed here, various "prominent security officers, Ba’athist politicians, university professors affiliated with the ruling party, high-ranking civil servants" were also assassinated by the Fighting Vanguard.

In February 1982, an uprising broke out in Hama, led by militants joined by many civilians, which was brutally crushed by the regime with tens of thousands dead.

[29] After the end of its campaign in Syria, some former members of the Fighting Vanguard joined the Afghan Arabs and played a role in the formation of Al-Qaeda.