Islamic Salvation Front

The Islamic Salvation Front (Arabic: الجبهة الإسلامية للإنقاذ, romanized: al-Jabhah al-Islāmiyah lil-Inqādh; French: Front islamique du salut, FIS) was an Islamist political party in Algeria. The party had two major leaders representing its two bases of its support; Abbassi Madani appealed to pious small businessmen, and Ali Belhadj appealed to the angry, often unemployed youth of Algeria. Officially made legal as a political party in September 1989, less than a year later the FIS received more than half of valid votes cast by Algerians in the 1990 local government elections. When it appeared to be winning a general election in January 1992, a military coup dismantled the party, interning thousands of its officials in the Sahara. It was officially banned two months later. Its armed wing, the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), fought in the Algerian Civil War against the Algerian government from July 1994 until its dissolution in January 2000.