Jaysh al-Izza

Army of Glory
جيش العزة
Jaysh al-Izza
LeadersMaj. Jamil al-Saleh (commander-in-Chief[1])
Col. Mustafa al-Bakour[2] (general commander)

Capt. Manaf Maarati (deputy commander, until October 2019)[3]

Capt. Mustafa Maarati (spokesman, until October 2019)[3]
Dates of operation2013–present
Group(s)
  • Homs al-Adiya Brigades
HeadquartersKafr Nabl area (August 2019-February 2020), Jisr al-Shughur (per pro-government reports),[4] formerly al-Lataminah[1]
Active regions
IdeologySunni Islamism
Size
  • 3,000 (late 2015)[1]
  • September 2019:
    • 2,500 (HTS defector claim)[5]
    • Over 3,000 (pro-government media claim)[4]
  • ≤3500 (December 2021)[6]
Part of Free Syrian Army
Jaysh al-Nasr (2015)
Allies Tahrir al-Sham
Guardians of Religion Organization[7]
Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria
Ajnad al-Sham
Malhama Tactical
National Front for Liberation
Syrian National Army
 Turkey[8]
Opponents Syrian Arab Armed Forces
 Russia
 Iran
Hezbollah
Arab Nationalist Guard
Eagles of the Whirlwind
Ba'ath Brigades
Syrian Resistance
Battles and warsSyrian civil war

The Army of Glory (Arabic: جيش العزة, romanized: Jaysh al-Izza), formerly the Union of Glory (Arabic: تجمع العزة, romanized: Tajamu' al-'Izza), is a Sunni Islamist Syrian rebel group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army active in northwestern Syria, mainly in the al-Ghab Plain in northern Hama and its surroundings. Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have supplied the group with anti-tank missiles[1] including 9K111 Fagots and BGM-71 TOWs.[9] The group has also expressed its disapproval of international efforts such as the Astana and Sochi agreements for de-escalating the war in Syria, and has opposed Russia's involvement in the war. Jaysh al-Izza also made efforts to join the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation which includes other prominent Syrian opposition groups in Idlib such as Ahrar al-Sham and the Sham Legion, but did not do so out of complications with the integration about which Jaysh al-Izza's leadership did not elaborate.[10]

  1. ^ a b c d "Western-backed Syrian rebel group says hit by Russian air strikes". Reuters. 30 September 2015.
  2. ^ "A former leader in the opposition warns of a second phase of the Idlib battles". 23 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Including leaders in the first row .. Defected elements of the "Army of Glory"". Zaman al-Wasl. 10 October 2019.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference progovt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Series of detailed tweets from HTS defector Abu Salih al-Hamawi exposing HTS". Trunk News Translations. 2019-09-03. Retrieved 2019-09-04. Jaysh al-Izza has 1300 members, 167 (note: 13%) were martyred while you claim to have 10.000, and only 400 (note: 4%) were martyred.
  6. ^ "Sixth anniversary of Zahran Alloush's killing in Russian airstrike on eastern Ghouta". syriahr.com. 25 December 2021.
  7. ^ "After military operation for it, violent attack by Horas Al-Din and Ansar Al-Tawheed and Jaysh Al-Izza in northern Hama and heavy aerial and ground shelling target the area". Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 26 April 2018.
  8. ^ "بينهم قادة في الصف الأول.. انشقاق عناصر من جيش العزة".
  9. ^ "US arms shipment to Syrian rebels detailed". IHS Jane's 360. 8 April 2016. Archived from the original on 5 December 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  10. ^ "The Syrian National Army: For the Syrian revolution or against the Kurds? – Syria Direct". syriadirect.org. Archived from the original on 2019-10-20.