The group's former head, Abu Humam al-Shami, was the general military commander of the defunct Al-Nusra Front, and had fought for Al-Qaeda during the Third Afghan Civil War and the Iraqi insurgency.

In a statement, Hurras al-Din called upon all Islamist factions to set aside differences and launch a coordinated military response in the wake of various atrocities committed by the Assad regime during its Siege of Eastern Ghouta.

[citation needed] However Jaysh al-Sahel, which is part of Hurras al-Din said that it will fight the SLF if the towns of Muhambal, Bisanqul, and Kafr Shalaya are attacked.

[32][better source needed] On 26 April 2018, Hurras al-Din, along with Ansar al-Tawhid, and Jaysh al-Izza, launched a joint attack against Syrian Government forces in the northern countryside of the Hama Governorate.

[18] On 12 October 2018, the Russian government's reconciliation center in Syria accused the group of hoarding materials needed to develop chemical weapons for a false flag attack as well as being an ISIL affiliate.

[8] On 30 June 2019, in a rare operation against non-ISIL elements, the U.S. carried out a strike against a Hurras al-Din leadership meeting at a training facility west of Aleppo[22] which killed eight jihadists, including six commanders: two Tunisians, two Algerians, an Egyptian and a Syrian.

[21] It was the first known U.S. strike in western Syria since February 2017 due to the U.S. and Russia arranging an unofficial deconfliction boundary that largely bars any substantial U.S. forces from venturing into the region.

[36] On 31 August 2019, the U.S. carried out a series of airstrikes on a Rouse the Believers Operations Room meeting between Kafriya and Maarrat Misrin, killing over 40 Hurras al-Din militants, including several leaders.

[39] An Iraqi intelligence official and Hisham al-Hashimi have stated to The Independent that Halabi was also a smuggler, which is why the ISIL head and his family utilized his services.

[45][46] On 1 January 2021, the group attacked a Russian military base in the northern part of the Raqqa Governorate, in an area held by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Syrian state-media claimed that the explosion was due to a short circuit in the bus that caused the fuel tank to blow up, and that 1 person was killed along with 3 others injured.

[10][53] The group broke away from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in 2018 a year after the formation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham due to internal tensions in the organization over issues including its allegiance to Al-Qaeda and its leaders, furthermore the Khorasan Group that was believed by several intelligence agencies and analysts to be part of al-Nusra which later became HTS, is thought to have evolved into becoming part of Hurras al-Din.

[25] Al-Qaeda also reportedly sent senior cadres from its central command nodes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran to support the foundation of Hurras al-Din.

[54] In 2018, Iraqi media and security officials claimed to have captured members of Hurras al-Din embedded with ISIL fighters from the Syrian border town of Abu Kamal on the Iraqi border heading towards Iraq's Anbar Governorate, and that the group was seeking to expand its presence to northern and central Iraq, and that it was also working with the Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order, which is led by former Saddam Hussein-era Baathist officers, including Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the Iraqi government also claimed local political parties were financing the group to help it expand into former ISIL-held territories, however the validity of the reports has been questioned.

[59] In 2016, Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian Al-Qaeda member who later became part of Hurras al-Din's leadership, also criticized ISIL saying they were twisted and had perverted thoughts.

[64][65] In October 2019, based on a receipt book of ISIL reportedly found by associates of former American intelligence official Asaad Almohammad, analysts have stated that Baghdadi was paying the members of the group in exchange for hiding him.

[73] Alexander Sehmer of the Jamestown Foundation has stated that Guardians of the Religion Organization gives Al Qaeda the best opportunity to improve its fortunes in Syria.