https://medium.com/@badly_xeroxed/syrian-opposition-factions-in-the-syrian-civil-war-5d8412c9d7e6#.tv2kshlmq
A detailed guided to Syrian rebel groups
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/explaining-the-syrian-conflict/
A complex web of parties in Syrian conflict
https://warontherocks.com/2017/08/a-deadly-delusion-were-syrias-rebels-ever-going-to-defeat-the-jihadists/
Lister has claimed that “[Free Syrian Army] groups who fought [al-Qaeda] were abandoned to lose.” But there’s only so much the United States could do when fragmented, basically local rebels abandoned each other, over and over again
http://theconversation.com/explainer-the-syrian-war-in-one-short-easy-read-50866
"The Syrian conflict has been described as a civil war, a proxy war and a sectarian war. On one level, the Syrian government, backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, is pitted against the “moderate” rebels, backed by the US-led coalition, Turkey and the Gulf States, with everyone scrambling to contain Islamic State (who also receive funding from the Gulf States). The Kurds are fighting IS and Assad, and are supported by the West, but are also being bombed by Turkey, which is trying to stem a Kurdish uprising within its own borders. Following the latest atrocities – and France’s growing engagement – things could get even more complex."
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/12/aq_courier_rebel_leader_zawahiri.php
17 Dec 2013: A senior al Qaeda operative known as Abu Khalid al Suri is a leading figure in Ahrar al Sham, a Syrian extremist group that is part of the recently formed Islamic Front. Al Suri’s real name is Mohamed Bahaiah.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-prophecy-insight-idUSBREA3013420140401
April 1, 2014: Abu
George, a Christian from the nearby village of Jdeide who farmed plums
and olives before the revolt, now works with the Sunni-led Liwa al-Hurra
battalion, mostly in the town. He said there were about 15 other
Christians in the brigade, accounting for around 5 percent of the
fighters. "Many Christians participate in the revolution. When the army
left we joined the revolution," he said.
Others
in Yaqubiyeh, where thousands of displaced Sunnis have settled in
recent months, were more circumspect. One woman, a 40-year-old Catholic,
said Christians were mostly left alone, but were still nervous.
"We're
living normally, we go pray, we come back, no one bothers us," she
said, then leaned closer to a visiting journalist. "There is some theft
on our land. They come and go, and none of us knows who does it. We're
afraid to talk. Christians can't speak out. You understand me."
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/11/jabhat-al-nusra-idlib-islamic-emirate.html#ixzz4U3xk3hqeOct 2014:
Jabhat al-Nusra found in Idlib a suitable place to declare its emirate and compete with IS to attract jihadists from around the world. Idlib is close to the Turkish border and isolated from major fighting fronts with IS or President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. Al-Nusra also realized that it is bound to win its war against the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on account of its administrative and military superiority, as many FSA fighters refuse to use their weapons against anyone other than Assad and IS.
The presense of brigades of ill repute within SRF helped al-Nusra win popular support for its campaign, allowing it to expand its war and include all US allies in the area in what is known as the “moderate opposition.”
The Syrian rebels see al-Nusra as walking in the footsteps of IS. The latter began its war against the Northern Knights Brigades, calling the group corrupt. It then gradually went up against most opposition factions and took control over large areas in northern Syria, before opposition factions led by the Mujahideen Army forced it to move to the east of the country. IS regained its forces there, taking advantage of the desert environment with which its fighters are well trained to cope.
The clashes between al-Nusra and SRF began on Oct. 26 in the town of Bara, in Idlib’s countryside. The clashes followed Maarouf’s military campaign there, which searched for wanted men who had taken refuge with al-Nusra. The events developed into a war between al-Nusra and SRF and ended in the former taking full control of Jabal al-Zawiya — Maarouf’s stronghold — including the village of Deir Sunbul, Maarouf’s hometown.
Maarouf and the Hazm Movement suffered severe losses by Jabhat al-Nusra in Idlib’s countryside, where al-Nusra confiscated heavy gear and weapons after Hazm's withdrawal from its headquarters. SRF and the Hazm Movement withdrew from Idlib, with the exception of some areas in the southern countryside. Only those who surrendered remained in Idlib.
Sources with ties to Maarouf who wished to remain anonymous told Al-Monitor that he fled to Turkey and no longer has any brigades in Idlib, with the exception of certain groups in Idlib’s southern countryside and southern Syria, where no clashes erupted between the FSA and al-Nusra.
Meanwhile, the Hazm Movement withdrew from Idlib’s countryside to Aleppo and gathered all the gear it could get, following mild skirmishes with al-Nusra. It also took advantage of the agreement on Aleppo's neutrality on the clashes, due to its critical situation and the regime's closeness to besieging its “liberated’ neighborhoods.
However, tensions between the FSA and al-Nusra soon moved to Aleppo’s countryside, where the latter besieged the Northern Knights Brigades on Nov. 4. The brigades burned a T-62 tank before withdrawing from Menagh in Aleppo’s northern countryside. Al-Nusra also killed a field commander from the Dawn of Freedom Brigades on Nov. 8, according to a statement of which Al-Monitor received a copy.
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/564357-us-strikes-nusra-front-ahrar-al-sham
6 Nov 2014:
The US struck Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham targets in northern Syria, expanding its military campaign to include the two Islamist groups advancing against Washington-backed rebels in the area.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/world/middleeast/an-anxious-wait-in-syrian-city-held-by-insurgents.html
30 March 2015:
Tensions are already evident in Idlib over the treatment of Christians, a bellwether issue. Two activists, who asked not to be identified out of fear for their safety, said that foreign fighters from Nusra had killed two Christians after hearing they worked in a liquor store.
They said that fighters from Ahrar al-Sham had rebuked the foreigners and set up checkpoints to protect Christians from them.
Abdullah Mohamad Al-Muhaisini, a Saudi Islamic law jurist traveling with the fighters, used Twitter to construct a complex argument against killing Christians who do not resist.
Christians appeared to be suffering from both sides, as rescuers said government airstrikes hit Christians’ homes. In video of shaken, crying residents in smoking, damaged homes, a non-veiled woman yelled, “bastard tyrant!”
Zaina Erhaim, a journalist from Idlib, returned after the government forces withdrew, but said she did not yet feel free.
https://pjmedia.com/blog/syrian-rebel-group-ahrar-al-sham-executes-christians-in-liberated-idlib/
1 April 2015:
A report from a Christian human rights group in Syria claims that the Syrian rebel group Ahrar al-Sham (Free Men of Syria) executed two Christian men for violating Islamic law after the capture of the city of Idlib last week.
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/syria-an-opportunity-in-idlib
3 April 2015: Nusra now fights against ISIS with the rebels in Aleppo, Nusra is also assisting ISIS in its offensive on the Yarmouk Camp of Damascus according to local activists.
http://linkis.com/www.telegraph.co.uk/3Cg5b
Sep 22, 2015: Pentagon-trained rebels in Syria are reported to have betrayed their American backers and handed their weapons over to al-Qaeda in Syria immediately after re-entering the country.
Fighters with Division 30, the “moderate” rebel division favoured by the United States, surrendered to the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, a raft of sources claimed on Monday night.
Division 30 was the first faction whose fighters graduated from a US-led training programme in Turkey which aims to forge a force on the ground in Syria to fight against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
A statement on Twitter by a man calling himself Abu Fahd al-Tunisi, a member of al-Qaeda’s local affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, read: "A strong slap for America... the new group from Division 30 that entered yesterday hands over all of its weapons to Jabhat al-Nusra after being granted safe passage.
"They handed over a very large amount of ammunition and medium weaponry and a number of pick-ups."
Reports since yesterday claim US-backed leader Anas Obaid has betrayed US & handed weapons to Jabhat al-Nusra #Syriapic.twitter.com/yTZqVT3CI0
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) September 22, 2015
Abu Khattab al-Maqdisi, who also purports to be a Jabhat al-Nusra member, added that Division 30's commander, Anas Ibrahim Obaid,had explained to Jabhat al-Nusra's leaders that he had tricked the coalition because he needed weapons.
"He promised to issue a statement... repudiating Division 30, the coalition, and those who trained him," he tweeted. "And he also gave a large amount of weapons to Jabhat al-Nusra."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a monitoring group, reported that seventy-five Division 30 fighters had crossed into Syria from Turkey early the day before with “12 four-wheel vehicles equipped with machine guns and ammunition”.
US Central Command confirmed about 70 graduates of the Syria “train and equip” programme had re-entered Syria with their weapons and equipment and were operating as New Syrian Forces alongside Syrian Kurds, Sunni Arab and other anti-Isil forces.
The latest disaster, if true, will be the second to befall the programme. Last month, after the first group of fighters re-entered, the militia was attacked and routed by Jabhat al-Nusra, which stormed its headquarters and kidnapped a number of its members.
At the weekend, the group’s chief of staff also resigned, saying the training programme was “not serious”.
In the statement, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad al-Dhaher complained of insufficient numbers of trainees and fighters, inadequate supplies, and even “a lack of accuracy and method in the selection of Division 30’s cadres”.
The latest developments have only added to the scorn heaped on the much-criticized $500 million (£320m) program, which aimed to forge a 5,400-strong force of “moderate” rebels to combat Isil.
It has been hampered by problems almost from the outset, with rebels complaining of a laborious vetting process. The biggest point of contention is that they are only allowed to fight Isil, not the Assad regime, which is the principal enemy for most opposition groups.
http://warontherocks.com/2016/03/are-cia-backed-syrian-rebels-really-fighting-pentagon-backed-syrian-rebels/
"One train-and-equip unit,
the 30th Division, was very publicly destroyed by Syrian al-Qaeda
affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra when it was infiltrated via northern Aleppo,
an embarrassing failure for the program. (Some members of the 30th
Division actually fled to Afrin and joined a part of the non-U.S.-backed
Afrin SDF.)
But the 30th Division was
just one cohort from the Pentagon’s train-and-equip program. Others —
including Liwa al-Hamzah, Liwa al-Mu’tasem, and the 99th Division — are
now fighting alongside CIA-backed rebels with coalition close air
support against the Islamic State in northern Aleppo. These U.S.-backed
forces have consciously avoided the rebel-SDF fighting, instead focusing
exclusively on fighting the Islamic State. Elsewhere, another train-and-equip unit, the New Syrian Army, recently collaborated with other rebels to seize Syria’s southern al-Tanaf border crossing with Iraq from the Islamic State.
So, to sum up: The
non-Pentagon-backed SDF are fighting the CIA-backed northern Aleppo
rebels, who are fighting alongside Pentagon-backed train-and-equip
rebels against the Islamic State. The CIA-backed rebels are not fighting
the Pentagon-backed SDF. They are fighting a different faction that
does not enjoy U.S. support (and may have actually recently enjoyed
Russian support). And the Pentagon-backed SDF is fighting the Islamic
State in eastern Syria, half a country away."
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=45381&tx_ttnews[backPid]=7&cHash=f2157f867f7cd960e0d6004f4d7e7998#.Vyh_8GZuXwd
A coalition of moderate armed opposition groups in southern Syria, primarily organized within al-Jabhat al-Janoobiyya (Southern Front), are confronting the Islamic State affiliate Liwa Shuhada al-Yarmouk in the southwestern area of Dara’a governorate in the Syrian-Israeli and Syrian-Jordanian border region (YouTube, April 10; YouTube, April 10; YouTube, April 10). One of the most powerful Southern Front-affiliated armed opposition groups currently contesting the Islamic State in southern Syria is Jabhat Thuwar Sooria (Syrian Revolutionaries Front), under the command of Captain Hassan Ibrahim (a.k.a. Abu Usama al-Julani).
....
One of the most prominent, U.S.-vetted Syrian armed opposition groups that currently fights against the al-Assad government and its allies, as well as against the Islamic State (IS), is Liwa Suqur al-Jabal (Mountain Hawks Brigade), an organization with over 2,500 fighters spread in northwestern Syria’s Idlib, Lattakia, and Aleppo governorates (Viber Interview, April 28; Twitter; Al-Hayat, February 26; Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office, December 24, 2015). [1] Currently, the Mountain Hawks Brigade is one of the major constituent armed opposition groups in a nascent, primarily U.S.-backed Syrian rebel campaign against IS in areas northeast of Aleppo (Viber Interview, April 28; Twitter). The commander of the Mountain Hawks Brigade is Captain Hassan Haj Ali, 36, who is one of the most important moderate armed opposition leaders in northern Syria (Al-Safir [Beirut], February 2, 2016; Shaam [Damascus], November 26, 2015).
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=45381&tx_ttnews[backPid]=7&cHash=f2157f867f7cd960e0d6004f4d7e7998#.Vyh_8GZuXwd
A coalition of moderate armed opposition groups in southern Syria, primarily organized within al-Jabhat al-Janoobiyya (Southern Front), are confronting the Islamic State affiliate Liwa Shuhada al-Yarmouk in the southwestern area of Dara’a governorate in the Syrian-Israeli and Syrian-Jordanian border region (YouTube, April 10; YouTube, April 10; YouTube, April 10). One of the most powerful Southern Front-affiliated armed opposition groups currently contesting the Islamic State in southern Syria is Jabhat Thuwar Sooria (Syrian Revolutionaries Front), under the command of Captain Hassan Ibrahim (a.k.a. Abu Usama al-Julani).
....
One of the most prominent, U.S.-vetted Syrian armed opposition groups that currently fights against the al-Assad government and its allies, as well as against the Islamic State (IS), is Liwa Suqur al-Jabal (Mountain Hawks Brigade), an organization with over 2,500 fighters spread in northwestern Syria’s Idlib, Lattakia, and Aleppo governorates (Viber Interview, April 28; Twitter; Al-Hayat, February 26; Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office, December 24, 2015). [1] Currently, the Mountain Hawks Brigade is one of the major constituent armed opposition groups in a nascent, primarily U.S.-backed Syrian rebel campaign against IS in areas northeast of Aleppo (Viber Interview, April 28; Twitter). The commander of the Mountain Hawks Brigade is Captain Hassan Haj Ali, 36, who is one of the most important moderate armed opposition leaders in northern Syria (Al-Safir [Beirut], February 2, 2016; Shaam [Damascus], November 26, 2015).
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/09/turkey-syria-free-syrian-army-military-radoon-qaeda-cia.html#
"Recipients of US TOW armor-piercing anti-tank systems — which other commanders working in the area told Al-Monitor had proven decisive in recent advances there — Radoon’s group was "seen as competition," as one member of an FSA political office put it, due to their effectiveness. Jabhat al-Nusra receives many fighters and support on the basis of its reputation for being the strongest fighting force on the ground."
"the attacking and routing of the Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF) and the Hazm Movement — both of whose men had also received weaponry and training abroad — from Idlib in between late October and early November by Jabhat al-Nusra. SRF leader Jamal Maarouf claims that Jabhat al-Nusra was able to gain support for it through propaganda and better resources, as little of the much-touted Western aid ever made it to the moderate groups."
"The arrest in late July of Division 30 fighters — the first contingent of a $500 million train-and-equip program authorized by the US Congress last year — and the subsequent attack on their headquarters by Jabhat al-Nusra, followed by US airstrikes on the local al-Qaeda affiliate, received a great deal of media attention."
The program is parallel to a covert one run by the CIA, but neither one has offered up anything close to the numbers required to have an effect.
Meanwhile, non-Islamist forces are forced to engage in alliances that are pragmatic, unclear and shifting by necessity.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/cia-vetted-syrian-rebels-fighting-assad-2015-10
Oct 21, 2015: To continue receiving supplies, the vetted rebel groups must also record their use and return spent shells to the closest MOC to prove that they have not sold or shared arms with non-vetted rebel groups.
This arrangement ensures that the TOWs, unless seized by rival rebel groups, stay in the hands of CIA-approved militias. The groups that the CIA currently allows munitions to be shared with are:
13th Division (Forqat 13)
101st Division Infantry (Forqat 101 Masha’a)
Knights of Justice Brigade (Liwa’ Fursan al-Haqq)
Falcons of the Mountain Brigade (Liwa’ Suqour al-Jabal)
Grouping of the Falcons of Al-Ghab (Tajamuu Suqour al-Ghab)
1st Coastal Division (Forqat Awwal al-Sahli)
Gathering of Dignity (Tajammu al-Izza’)
Central Division (Al-Forqat al-Wasti)
46th Division (Forqat 46)
Sultan Murad Brigade (Liwa’ Sultan Murad)
Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, (Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki)
Mujahideen Army/Army of Holy Warriors (Jaish al-Mujahideen)
Revolutionaries of al-Sham Brigades (Kata’eb Thuwar al-Sham)
1st Regiment (Al-Fauj al-Awwal)
Ahmed al-Abdo Martyrs’ Force (Quwwat al-Shaheed Ahmad al-Abdo)
Al-Rahman Legion (Faylaq al-Rahman)
Martyrs of Islam Brigade (Liwa’ Shuhadah al-Islam)
Yarmouk Army (Jaish al-Yarmouk)
Lions of Sunnah Division (Forqat Usood al-Sunnah)
the 18th March Division (Forqat 18 Adhar)
Southern Tawhid Brigade (Liwa’ Tawhid al-Junoub)
Hamza Division (Forqat al-Hamza)
1st Artillery Regiment (Al-Fauj al-Awwal Madfa’a)
Syria Revolutionaries Front — Southern Sector (Jabhat Thuwar Souriya)
The First Corps (Faylaq al-Awwal)
The Dawn of Unity Division (Forqat Fajr al-Tawhid)
Salah al-Din Division (Forqat Salah al-Din)
Omari Brigades (Tajammu Alwiyat al-Omari)
Unity Battalions of Horan Brigade (Liwa’ Tawhid Kata’eb Horan)
Youth of Sunnah Brigade (Liwa’ Shabbab al-Sunnah)
Moataz Billah Brigade (Liwa’ Moataz Billah)
Sword of al-Sham Brigades (Alwiyat Saif al-Sham)
Dawn of Islam Division (Forqat Fajr al-Islam)
Supporters of Sunnah Brigade (Liwa’ Ansar al-Sunnah)
Horan Column Division (Forqat Amoud Horan)
Emigrants and Supporters Brigade (Liwa’ Muhajireen wal Ansar)
Military Council in Quneitra and the Golan
United Sham Front (Jabhat al-Sham Muwahidda)
69th Special Forces Division (Forqat 69 Quwwat al-Khassa)
11th Special Forces Division (Forqat 11 Quwwat al-Khassa)
Partisans of Islam Front (Jabhat Ansar al-Islam)
Al-Furqan Brigades (Alwiyat al-Furqan)
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