Lions of the East Army

Lions of the East Army
جيش أسود الشرقية
Jaysh Usud al-Sharqiya
Leaders
  • General commander: Tlass al-Salama (nom de guerre: Abu Faisal)[1][2]
  • Deputy commander: Abu Barzan al-Sultani[2]
  • Abdul Bari[3]
Dates of operationAugust 2014 – present
Active regionsSince April 2018:

Until April 2018:

IdeologySee ideology section
Size
Part ofAuthenticity and Development Front (formerly)[2]
Southern Front (formerly) [6]
AlliesForces of Martyr Ahmad al-Abdo
Revolutionary Commando Army[7]
Army of Free Tribes
Jaysh al-Islam
Al-Qaratayn Martyrs Brigade
OpponentsIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Syrian Armed Forces
Battles and warsSyrian Civil War
Websitehttps://asoodalsharqia.wordpress.com/

The Lions of the East Army (Arabic: جيش أسود الشرقية; Jaysh Usud al-Sharqiya) is a Syrian rebel group formerly affiliated with the Free Syrian Army's Southern Front[6] that was formed in August 2014 and is based in southeastern Syria. Many of the group's fighters are al-Shaitat tribesmen from the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. The group was also active in Damascus city between January and July 2015, when its unit in Damascus merged into Jaysh al-Islam's 8th Brigade.[2] It mainly focused on defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the eastern Syrian Desert, where it gained control over large areas since 2016.[4][2]

  1. ^ a b c Shelly Kittleson (21 April 2017). "Syrian rebel group just trying to get home". al-Monitor. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Alexander McKeever (17 April 2017). "Jaysh Usud al-Sharqiya: Exiles of the Euphrates". Bellingcat.
  3. ^ "The Syrian Rebellion Observatory". The Syrian Rebellion Observatory. 28 January 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  4. ^ a b "THE MODERATE REBELS: A GROWING LIST OF VETTED GROUPS FIELDING BGM-71 TOW ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILES". Hasan Mustafas. 5 August 2015.
  5. ^ "News Update 4-20-15". Syria Direct. 2015-04-20. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
  6. ^ a b "Russian air strikes kill Syrian refugees on Jordan border: Rebels". Middle East Eye. 13 July 2016.
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2020-03-07. Retrieved 2017-01-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)