Battle of Jaji

In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to support the struggling communist regime, sparking the Soviet-Afghan war. This intervention caused widespread outrage in the Muslim world. Osama bin Laden, a scion of the wealthy Saudi Binladin Group, went to Pakistan in early 1980 to support the Afghan resistance against the Soviet invaders, considering it a Jihad. However, he did not enter Afghanistan until many years later.[6] In October 1984, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, a Palestinian Salafist also angered by the Soviet invasion, established Maktab al-Khadamat. The group aimed to coordinate logistics and support for the Afghan resistance from Pakistan. Initially bin Laden agreed to fund the group, with the understanding that the money would directly support the mujahideen on the front lines.[7] Together, Azzam and bin Laden's group started publishing Jihad magazine, a monthly Arabic publication focusing on Arab efforts to aid the resistance. The magazine proved to be a potent recruitment tool, attracting Muslims worldwide to join the Afghan war, effectively transforming it into a global Jihad.[8]

In 1986, Maktab al-Khadamat relocated most of its operations to Sadda and initiated a training program to train fighters to wage jihad inside Afghanistan. However, the program was a failure, with poorly prepared brigades being turned away from the battlefield by the Afghans. This disillusioned bin Laden, leading him to withdraw from the group and start his own training program within Afghanistan, rather than in neighboring Pakistan.[9]

Bin Laden selected the mountainous region of Jaji as the site for his operations, which he named "Masada," meaning "the Lion's Den." He strategically positioned the base close to Soviet positions, intending to confront the enemy head-on and hoping that the Soviets would attack it.[10]

Drawing on his construction expertise and his immense available resources, bin Laden constructed a series of fortifications in the vicinity of Jaji. Some Arabs supporting the Afghan resistance in Pakistan tried to dissuade bin Laden from focusing solely on training non-Afghan fighters, fearing that it would alienate the Afghans.[11]

Nevertheless, bin Laden remained undeterred. He equipped his Arab fighters with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, initiating small-scale attacks against the Soviets. Although his Arab fighters suffered immediate casualties, it was perceived as a positive outcome by the jihadists seeking martyrdom.[12]

By May 1987, bin Laden had built up his base to the extent that it finally caught Soviet attention, and they launched an attack on it on May 12, 1987. However, this was not only an attack against bin Laden's base, but a broad Soviet offensive to relieve a Soviet fort in the area, and the offensive included attacks against many other mujahideen groups in the area.[13]

The Mujahideen al-Masada ("Lion's Den") compound had been constructed by Osama bin Laden, in order to have a training facility that didn't rely on Pakistan.[14] After Ali Sher had been relieved, Jaji was attacked by approximately 200 Soviet Airborne Troops, Spetsnaz, the Soviet-backed Afghan Army and tribal militias.[2]

The Mujahideen army was estimated from as low as 50 members, to numbering "in the thousands", having drawn recruits from the surrounding area,[2][15] including forces from all seven of the resistance parties. Among the leaders were Jalaluddin Haqqani and Mohammed Anwar, whose experienced troops were carrying Stinger and Blowpipe missiles that threatened Soviet gunships.[5] Enaam Arnaout also participated, identifying himself to Arab press as "Abu Mahmoud, from Syria", and he was photographed alongside bin Laden and quoted as saying that the Soviets had dropped napalm, destroying the trees that the Mujahideen had hoped to use for fortifications.[3][16][17] During the battle, Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri and Mohammed Atef both led raids which encircled the Soviet siege, ambushing them outside the encampment, al-Banshiri being shot in the leg during one excursion.[3]

Abdullah Azzam also participated in the battle, despite his private misgivings about bin Laden's separate Arab military unit.[18][19] Additional individuals involved in the battle were Azzam's son Hutaifa, Abu Khalil who was in charge of keeping up a steady barrage of mortars, Tamim al-Adnani and a figure known as "Abu al-Hasan," tenatively identified as Wael Julaidan.[3][20]

On May 25, a Soviet warplane flying above bin Laden's training camp was targeted by a separate group of Afghan fighters. The plane was hit and shattered into fragments, ultimately crashing in close proximity to bin Laden's camp. This was seen as a key moment in the battle by bin Laden and his Arab fighters, particularly due to its occurrence on the twenty-seventh day of Ramadan. This day is regarded as highly sacred in the Muslim calendar, believed to be a day when destinies are determined and the gates of heaven are opened. Bin Laden and his men did not see it as a coincidence that the Soviet plane had been shot down on this particular day.[21]

On May 29, the "Battle of 1 Shawwal" was part of the larger action; Russian commandos entered the Masada compound but were repelled by a group of 25 Arabs with a handful of Afghan supporters. In the heat of the battle, there were only nine defenders alive—but the Soviets did not realise the weakness until after reinforcements arrived.[19]

This battle later became famous due to the participation of bin Laden, whose force of 50 Arabs fought alongside the Afghan rebels. However, bin Laden and his fighters were ordered to abandon the position to their Afghan allies after taking losses.[22][20]

At least 50 of the Arab volunteers and about 70 Afghans were killed in the week-long battle, and bin Laden suffered a foot wound.[23] Ahmed Khadr would often praise the bravery of the fighters in Jaji to his children, but refused to confirm whether or not he had actually participated.[24] Essam al-Ridi, an American who participated in the battle, later claimed that as many as 50 Mujahideen had been killed and only two Soviets, disillusioning him.[25]

In the end, the Mujahideen successfully held their complex system of tunnels and caves named al-Masada just outside the village of Jaji, near the Pakistani border, from Soviet capture.[15][26]

Although relatively unimportant in military terms, the battle had been chronicled daily by Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist, and his reporting in Al Majalla and in Arab News.[27][28][29] The battle's true significance lay in the creation of mythic narratives portraying "divine miracles" and a remarkable victory as chronicled by these Arab sources. These narratives played a crucial role in attracting new foreign volunteers to join the Afghan war.[30] Abdullah Anas, one of the co-founders of Maktab al-Khadamat along with Azzam and bin Laden, estimated that between three to four thousand volunteers showed up between 1987 and 1989 to join the Afghan jihad.[31] Additionally, the battle also had personal benefits for bin Laden. It elevated his status from a mere financier to a military war hero fighting on the front lines in Afghanistan. This newfound reputation contributed to his empowerment and the eventual formation of his organization, Al-Qaeda, in Peshawar in 1988.[32]

• Jihad magazine, "With our four automobiles against the Warsaw Pact", Issue 31, June 1987