Ahrar al-Sham

Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyyah
حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية
Leaders
SpokesmanAbu Yousef al-Mujajir (by 2016)[12]
Dates of operation2011–2013 (as Ahrar al sham Battalions)
2013–present (as Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement)
HeadquartersBabsaqa, Idlib Governorate, Syria[13]
Active regionsSyria
IdeologySunni Islamism Syrian nationalism (officially since 21 June 2017, unofficially before)[22]
StatusActive
Size10,000–20,000 (July 2013)[4]
16,000[23] (December 2016)
18,000–20,000 (March–June 2017)[24][25][26]
Part of Syrian Islamic Front (2012–2013)[27]
Islamic Front (2013–2016)[28][29][30]
Mujahideen Shura Council
(2014–2015)
Syrian Revolutionary Command Council (2014–2015)[14]
Unified Military Command of Eastern Ghouta (2014–2015)[31][32]
Army of Conquest (2015–2017)[33]
Fatah Halab (2015–2017)
Ansar al-Sharia (2015–early 2016)
Jaysh Halab (2016)

Syrian National Army

  • 3rd Legion
    • Levant Bloc

National Front for Liberation (2018–present)

Allies
Opponents
Battles and wars
Designated as a terrorist group bySee section
Preceded by
Ahrar al-Sham Battalions

Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya (Arabic: حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية, romanized: Ḥarakat Aḥrār aš-Šām al-Islāmiyah, lit. 'Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant'), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition of multiple Islamist units that coalesced into a single brigade and later a division in order to fight against the Syrian Government led by Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian Civil War.[47] Ahrar al-Sham was led by Hassan Aboud[4] until his death in 2014.[3] In July 2013, Ahrar al-Sham had 10,000 to 20,000 fighters,[4] which at the time made it the second most powerful unit fighting against al-Assad, after the Free Syrian Army.[48] It was the principal organization operating under the umbrella of the Syrian Islamic Front[4] and was a major component of the Islamic Front.[30] With an estimated 20,000 fighters in 2015,[16] Ahrar al-Sham became the largest rebel group in Syria after the Free Syrian Army became less powerful. Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam are the main rebel groups supported by Turkey.[49] On 18 February 2018, Ahrar al-Sham merged with the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement to form the Syrian Liberation Front.[34]

The group aims to create an Islamic state under Sharia law.[16] While both are major rebel groups, Ahrar al-Sham is not to be confused with Tahrir al-Sham, its main rival and former ally. Before 2016, Ahrar al-Sham allied with the al-Nusra Front, a now-defunct affiliate of al-Qaeda.[16][50] From 2017 onward, it increasingly fought against Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamic coalition formed under the initiative of a former Ahrar leader, Abu Jaber Shaykh; through a merger of Ahrar al-Sham's Jaysh al-Ahrar faction, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, Nur al-Din Zenki and other militia groups.

  1. ^ Lund, Aron (5 October 2012). "Holy Warriors". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  2. ^ "The crowning of the Syrian Islamic Front". Foreign Policy. 24 June 2013. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Suicide bombing kills head of Syrian rebel group". The Daily Star. 9 September 2014. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Competition among Islamists". The Economist. 20 July 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  5. ^ "Syria rebels name slain leader's replacement". Al Jazeera English. 10 September 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  6. ^ Lund, Aron (12 September 2015). "Abu Yahia al-Hamawi, Ahrar al-Sham's New Leader". Syria Comment. Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  7. ^ a b c "Commander-in-Chief of Ahrar Al-Sham appoints his deputies and a new leader for the northern sector". Zaman al-Wasl. 4 February 2017.
  8. ^ Hashem Osseiran (3 August 2017). "Why One of Syria's Biggest Rebel Groups Reordered Its Leadership". Syria Deeply.
  9. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Enab_Baladi_20180817 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference tweet20170203Jaber was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference tweet20170203 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "Rebels, regime made prisoner swap in Aleppo: source". Zaman al-Wasl. 21 June 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference US was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ a b "Syria's Ahrar al-Sham Leadership Wiped Out in Bombing". Carnegie Endowment of International Peace. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Time20120726 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ a b c d "Ahrar al-Sham". Mapping Militant Organizations. Stanford University. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  17. ^ Ali El Yassir (23 August 2016). "The Ahrar al Sham Movement: Syria's Local Salafists". Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The movement unambiguously espoused a Salafi and Jihadi discourse when it was created, but it has also sought to differentiate itself from al Qaeda and ISIS's Salafi-Jihadism. The group continued to describe itself as independent and stated that it was not an extension of any organization, party or group. Unlike al Qaeda and ISIS, Ahrar al Sham consistently stated its fight was limited to Syria.
  18. ^ a b "Syrian Ahrar Al-Sham rebel group faces major internal mutiny". The New Arab. 13 October 2020. Ahrar Al-Sham started as a Syrian Salafi jihadist group in late 2011, but shifted towards a somewhat more moderate rebel position after 2017.
  19. ^ O'Bagy 2012, pp. 6, 27.
  20. ^ a b Heller, Sam (30 September 2015). "Ahrar al-Sham's Revisionist Jihadism". War on the Rocks. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  21. ^ Awad, Mokhtar (29 April 2016). "Revolutionary Salafism: The Case of Ahrar Movement". Current Trends in Islamist Ideology. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022.
  22. ^ "أحرار الشام تحلل تبني علم الثورة كرمز وتوقعات بتبديل رايتها إليهo". Al Etihad Press. 21 June 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  23. ^ "List of armed formations, which joined the ceasefire in the Syrian Arab Republic on 30 December 2016". Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  24. ^ Sami Moubayed (29 January 2017). "Is Syria's Idlib being groomed as Islamist killing ground?". Asia Times. "Last January, Idlib sank into a "rebel civil war" as fighting broke out between Jabhat al-Nusra and the Turkish-backed Ahrar al-Sham, a militia in the Syrian north that boasts of a powerbase of at least 20,000 fighters."
  25. ^ Charles Lister (15 March 2017). "Al Qaeda Is Starting to Swallow the Syrian Opposition". Foreign Policy. "HTS and Ahrar al-Sham are the most militarily powerful, with the former likely commanding 12,000 to 14,000 fighters and the latter closer to 18,000 to 20,000."
  26. ^ Aaron Y Zelin (June 2017). "How Al Qaeda survived drones, uprisings and the Islamic State" (PDF). Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2017."Overnight [after its January 2017 expansion], Ahrar al-Sham had gained approximately 8,000 additional fighters to supplement its already large membership of 12,000."
  27. ^ "The Syrian Islamic Front: A New Extremist Force". Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 4 February 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  28. ^ "Syria Comment » Archives The Dawn of Freedom Brigades: Analysis and Interview - Syria Comment". Syria Comment. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  29. ^ Aron Lund (23 March 2015). "Islamist Mergers in Syria: Ahrar al-Sham Swallows Suqour al-Sham". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  30. ^ a b "Leading Syrian rebel groups form new Islamic Front". BBC. 22 November 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  31. ^ "Unified Military Command for Ghotta" (PNG). Malcolmxtreme.files.wordpress.com. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  32. ^ "The wars of the Eastern Ghouta grind on". The Daily Star Newspaper. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  33. ^ a b "Rebels launch full-on assault of Idlib city". Syria Direct. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  34. ^ a b "Hardline Syria rebels announce merger". Agence France-Presse. 19 February 2018.
  35. ^ "The Army of Islam Is Winning in Syria". Foreign Policy. October 2013.
  36. ^ Aron Lund (24 September 2013). "New Islamist Bloc Declares Opposition to National Coalition and US Strategy". Syria Comment. Archived from the original on 20 November 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  37. ^ "Freedom, Human Rights, Rule of Law: The Goals and Guiding Principles of the Islamic Front and Its Allies". Democratic Revolution, Syrian Style. 17 May 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  38. ^ "Syria group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and al-Qaeda legacy". BBC. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2024. In July 2017 HTS captured large parts of Idlib Province following battles against rebel groups, including its former ally Ahrar al-Sham.
  39. ^ ""How did Hamas's military expertise end up with Syria's rebels?"". Middle East Eye. 23 May 2015.
  40. ^ a b "Syrian rebels call for regional alliance against Russia and Iran". Reuters.
  41. ^ http://alnujaba.com/3597-اخر%20عمليات%20%20ابطال%20النجباء%20في%20سوريا.html[permanent dead link‍]
  42. ^ a b "Update: Rebel Infighting in East Ghouta". 12 May 2017.
  43. ^ "NGO: Syria jihadists kill rebels in bombing". Al Arabiya. 11 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  44. ^ "Al Qaeda's chief representative in Syria killed in suicide attack". Long War Journal. 23 February 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  45. ^ "Former Guantanamo detainee killed while leading jihadist group in Syria". Long War Journal. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  46. ^ Jocelyn, Thomas (23 April 2015). "Al Nusrah Front, allies launch new offensives against Syrian regime". Long War Journal.
  47. ^ O'Bagy 2012, p. 27.
  48. ^ Lund, Aron (17 June 2013). "Freedom fighters? Cannibals? The truth about Syria's rebels". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  49. ^ "The Road to a Syria Peace Deal Runs Through Russia". Foreign Policy. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  50. ^ "The Syrian Opposition's Political Demands". Institute for Study of War.