An extremist group in the African Sahel, belonging to al-Qaeda organization, revealed its integration in a unified organization, under the name of "Supporting Islam and Muslims Organization".

The new organization includes, Ansar al-Din, which was founded in 2011, by Iyad Ag Ghaly, one of Tuareg's leaders, who rebelled against the Government of Mali in the nineties within the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, and Emirate of the Sahara region, which includes six affiliated to al-Qaeda Brigades in the Islamic Maghreb, and  al-Murabitoun Brigade as well as Massena Brigades.

The leaders of the new coalition are Iyad Ag Ghaly, the leader of Ansar al-Din organization, Yahya Abu Hamam, who leads al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb desert area, Hassan al-Ansari, the assistant of the leader of al-Murabitoun , Mokhtar Belmokhtar, and Abu Abdul Rahman Senhadji, the legitimate Judge  of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

The group renewed its pledge of allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of Al Qaeda,Mullah Hebat Allah, the prince of Taliban and Abdelmalek Droukdel. This move comes after a brief period of success of Algeria's efforts to establish peace in northern Mali and the declaration of five countries, in the Sahel region of Africa, an agreement on the formation of a unified force to combat terrorism.

The leaders of Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Mauritania agreed to form joint forces to fight the jihadi groups in the region. The meeting, which included five African countries, was held after weeks of the suicide attack by militants in a military camp near the city of Gao, in Mali, which left 80 persons killed.