Syrian Revolutionaries Front

Syrian Revolutionaries Front
جبهة ثوار سوريا
Logo of the SRF
Leaders	Jamal Maarouf (overall leader, northern branch)[1] Col. Afif Suleiman (Idlib commander, resigned July 2014)[2] Maj. Abu Osama al-Jolani (southern branch)[3] Brig. Gen. Yahya al-Abdi (63rd Southern Division)[4] Capt. Abu Hamza al-Naimi † (southern branch)[5]
Dates of operation	December 2013 – 5 May 2015 (main Idlib and Aleppo branch)[1] December 2013 – 31 July 2018 (southern branch)[citation needed]
Headquarters	Quneitra Governorate, Syria
Active regions	Daraa Governorate, Quneitra Governorate, Rif Dimashq Governorate, and Damascus Governorate, Syria[2]
Ideology	Non-ideological (overall group)[2] Islamic democracy (majority of groups) Secularism (some groups)
Size	10,000–15,000 (2014)[6] 7,000 (2016)[3]
Part of	Free Syrian Army Southern Front[7] Southern Alliance[8]
Allies	Saudi Arabia (until 2017)  Jordan (until 2018)  Qatar Jaysh al-Islam Army of Mujahideen (formerly) Al-Nusra Front (sometimes)[9] Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (formerly)[10] United States (until July 2017) Turkey (until 2015)
Opponents	Syria Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant[11] Khalid ibn al-Walid Army Al-Nusra Front (sometimes) Jund al-Aqsa[12][9]
Battles and wars	Syrian Civil War Syrian opposition–Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant conflict[13] Battle of Aleppo (2012–2016)[14] Rif Dimashq Governorate campaign Daraa Governorate campaign Daraa offensive (October 2014) First Battle of Al-Shaykh Maskin Daraa offensive (January 2015) Daraa and As-Suwayda offensive (June 2015) Daraa offensive (June–July 2015) Second Battle of Al-Shaykh Maskin Daraa offensive (March–April 2016) ISIL Daraa offensive (February 2017) 2014 Quneitra offensive al-Nusra Front–SRF/Hazzm Movement conflict[15]

The Syrian Revolutionaries Front (Arabic: جبهة ثوار سوريا, Jabhat Thowar Suriya, SRF, also translated Syrian Rebel Front^[1]) was an alliance of 14 relatively moderate religious and some secular armed groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, formed in December 2013, thus according to Arutz Sheva further sidelining the FSA and its leadership Supreme Military Council.^[16] It was established as a response to the merger of Islamist Syrian rebels into the Islamic Front.^[16]

History

Northern branch

In December 2013, following initial clashes, the Islamic Front and the Syrian Revolutionaries Front agreed to reconcile.^[17] The coalition was spearheaded by Jamal Maarouf, head of the Syrian Martyrs' Brigades, largest member group of the SRF based in Jabal Zawiya, Idlib Governorate.^[18] The group has supported the Geneva II Middle East peace conference that is aimed at resolving the Syrian civil war.^[18] The group received financial support from Saudi Arabia, while the United States has reportedly given the group only non-lethal aid like food, medicine and blankets, in part due to concerns over its involvement in smuggling and extortion.^[19]

100 members of the SRF's Wolves of al-Ghab Brigade were killed in clashes with al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front near Jisr al-Shughur on 16 July 2014.^[20]

In late October 2014 clashes erupted again between the SRF and al-Nusra in the Jabal al-Zawiya region of Idlib, over the following days, dozens of SRF fighters defected to Nusra and the group lost control of numerous villages as they withdrew their forces from the region.^[21] Maarouf and some of his followers relocated to Turkey, however around half of his men in the region remained behind and accepted the change of control rather than fight.^[19]

On 5 May 2015, some of the former members of the Hazzm Movement, the Syria Revolutionaries Front based in the north, Jabhat al-Akrad, the Dawn of Freedom Brigades and smaller FSA groups formed the Army of Revolutionaries.^[22][23] Many of their northern members also dissolved into the Levant Front.

During the Turkish military intervention in Syria which started in late August 2016, some members of the Syrian Revolutionaries Front and the Hazm Movement in exile from Turkey crossed into Syria through Jarabulus.^[24]

Northern groups (now defunct)

• Syrian Martyrs' Brigades^[2]
• Idlib Military Council (dissolved in June 2014)^[25]
• Idlib Martyrs' Brigade
• Ansar Brigades
• Wolves of al-Ghab Brigade
• Free North Brigade
• Northern Farouq Battalions
• Mountain Hawks Brigade (left to join the 5th Corps in September 2014)
• Hama Farouq Battalions
• Khalid ibn al-Walid Brigade (left in July 2014)^[26]
• Union of Free Zawiya Brigades (left in May 2014 to join the Syrian Salvation Front)^[27]
  • Al-Qaqaa Brigade
• 9th Special Forces Division of Aleppo (left in January 2014 to join the Hazzm Movement)
• Syrian Kurdish Revolutionary Council (Komala) (joined in April 2014,^[28] left in October 2014)^[29]

Southern branch

The group is currently only active in southern Syria, as a member of a Southern Front group, and previously part of the First Army of the Southern Front. On 2 March 2016, a car bomb explosion targeted the SRF headquarters in Quneitra and killed its commander Captain Abu Hamza al-Naimi and 4 other field commanders.^[5] Some time in 2016, the SRF's branch in Jubata al-Khashab split into 3 factions. The local SRF commander in the area also defected to the Golan Regiment.^[30]

On 6 April 2017, clashes erupted between the SRF and Jabhat Ansar al-Islam in the northern Quneitra countryside, which resulted in 7 rebels being killed. Government forces shelled the area on the same day, which resulted in a ceasefire between the two rebel groups.^[31]

On 31 July 2017, 5 SRF groups in Daraa and Quneitra merged into the 1st Infantry Division and established a unified command structure for the SRF.^[32]

Southern groups

Former

• Omari Brigades

See also

• List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War

References

This page was last edited on 23 February 2024, at 13:11