Sham Liberation Army

Not to be confused with Syrian Liberation Army or Tahrir al-Sham.
Sham Liberation Army
جيش تحرير الشام
Jaysh Tahrir al-Sham
Leaders
  • Abu Muwaffaq al-Shami (commander-in-chief)[1]
  • Abu Mohsen al-Qalamouni (military commander)[1]
  • Col. Abdullah al-Rifai † (Western Qalamoun Union)[2]
  • Capt. Firas Ibn Bitar (Levant Liberation Army)[3]
  • Zuhair Mohammad (LLA second-in-command)[4]
Dates of operation30 September 2015 – present[citation needed]
HeadquartersAfrin, Aleppo Governorate, Syria (Since 2018)[citation needed]
Active regions
Size400 (August 2017 - Saraya Ahl al-Sham total)[6]
Allies Turkey (since 2018)
Tahrir al-Sham[citation needed]
Ahrar al-Sham
Al-Rahman Legion
Free Syrian Army
Opponents Syria
 Iran
 Russia
 Lebanon (2017)
State of Palestine Galilee Forces
Hezbollah
 Islamic State (since February 2016)
Jaysh al-Islam
Arab Nationalist Guard
SSNP
LAAG
Battles and warsSyrian Civil War

The Sham Liberation Army (Arabic: جيش تحرير الشام, romanized: Jaysh Tahrir al-Sham), originally called the Sham Liberation Brigade (Arabic: لواء تحرير الشام, romanized: Liwa Tahrir al-Sham), is an armed rebel group active in the Syrian Civil War. It was founded and is led by Firas Bitar, a former Syrian Army captain who defected from the Syrian Army in 2012. Until 2016, its sole opponent was the Syrian Armed Forces and its allied militias;[7] it rejected any fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant until ISIL attacked its fighters in February 2016.[8]

In September 2015, the Sham Liberation Army and other rebel groups in the Qalamoun Mountains formed Saraya Ahl al-Sham (Arabic: سرايا أهل الشام; Company of the People of the Levant).[1]

  1. ^ a b c "Syria rebels form new Qalamoun coalition". Now News. 1 October 2015. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  2. ^ "Syrian Jihadists Signal Intent for Lebanon". Institute for the Study of War. 6 March 2015.
  3. ^ "Shells hit Damascus area as Assad attends prayers". AP. 8 August 2013.
  4. ^ "Syrian opposition regains upper hand in Qalamoun". Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. 20 April 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  5. ^ "Assad shown unharmed after Syria rebels report attack". Reuters. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  6. ^ "Last rebel faction leaves mountains on Syrian-Lebanese border alongside displaced". Syria Direct. 14 August 2017.
  7. ^ "Syrian opposition regains upper hand in Qalamoun". Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. 20 April 2015.
  8. ^ ""Sham Liberation" Army issued a statement declaring his position of "state regulation"". Al-Souria. 4 February 2016. Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2021.