Ansar al-Din
| Ansar Dine | |
|---|---|
| Participant in Insurgency in the Maghreb | |
 Ansar Dine Logo  Flag of Ansar Dine |
|
| Active | 2012 – 2017 |
| Ideology |
Salafist Jihadism Salafism |
| Area of operations |
Mali Senegal Mauritania |
| Became |
Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin
|
| Opponents |
State Opponents Non-State Opponents |
State Opponents
Non-State Opponents
Ansar Dine (Arabic: أنصار الدين ʾAnṣār ad-Dīn, also transliterated Ançar Deen; meaning "helpers of the (Islamic) religion" or "defenders of the faith") also known as Ansar al-Din (abbreviated as AAD) is a militant Islamist group led by Iyad Ag Ghaly, one of the most prominent leaders of the Tuareg Rebellion (1990–1995) who is suspected of having ties to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which is led by his cousin Hamada Ag Hama. Ansar Dine seeks to impose strict Sharia law across Mali. The group's first action was in March 2012. The organization is not to be confused with the Sufi movement Ançar Dine, started in Southern Mali by Chérif Ousmane Haidara in the 1980s, which is fundamentally opposed to militant Islamism. Ansar Dine is opposed to Sufi shrines.
Ansar Dine has its main base among the Ifora tribe from the southern part of the Tuaregs' homeland. It has been linked with Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) because its leader Iyad Ag Ghaly is the cousin of AQIM commander Hamada Ag Hama. In April 2012, Salma Belaala, a professor at Warwick University who does research on jihadism in North Africa said that this association was false, claiming that Ansar Dine was opposed to Al Qaeda. Ag Ghaly was also previously associated with the 1990 Tuareg rebellion. The group's members are reported to be from Mali, Algeria, and Nigeria.Omar Ould Hamaha, who served as Ansar Dine's spokesman after April 2012, became the military leader of the AQIM-affiliated Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) in August 2012.
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