Free Syrian Army

Flag of the Syrian Republic (1930-1958), ruled by France for most of its existence, used by the FSA

Free Syrian Army on Wikipedia

Free Syrian Army (FSA) (Arabic: الجيش السوري الحر‎, al-Jaysh as-Sūrī al-Ḥurr) is a much misused and confused term widely used to describe various factions of anti-government fighters in Syria.

A well-researched March 16, 2013 article at Joshua Landis' Syria Comment blog argues that, essentially, "The Free Syrian Army doesn’t exist." The original group and even its name and symbols have faded away under an array of various organization schemes that have largely fallen apart and given way to more overtly Islamist groupings like Jabhat Al-Nusra and Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. As the author, Aron Lund, pointed out:

Today, the FSA brand name remains in use within the Syrian opposition, but mostly as a term for the armed uprising in general. It’s quite similar to how a French person would have employed the term ”La Résistance” during WW2 – not in reference to a specific organization fighting against Hitler, but as an umbrella term for them all. With time, many people inside and outside Syria have started to use the FSA term to distinguish mainstream non-ideological or soft-Islamist groups from salafi factions. The salafis themselves used to be divided on the issue, but they aren’t anymore. The more ideological ones (like Jabhat el-nosra and Ahrar el-Sham) never used it, but at the start of the uprising, others did (like Liwa el-Islam and Suqour el-Sham).

Rebel leaders

Hassan Abboud(†) of Ahrar al-Sham, Ahmad Aisa al-Shaykh of Suqour al-Sham Brigade, Abdelqader Saleh(†) of Liwaa al-Tawhid, Zahran Alloush(†) of the Islam Army

Joshua Landis has published a list of the most important rebel leaders as of October 2013.

1. Hassan Abboud(†), the general head of the Islamic movement of Ahrar Al-Sham, spearheaded the joint position of what some are calling the Islamic Alliance, but which is looser than an alliance of mainly northern-based militias. Abboud was killed on September 9, 2014 together with several other Ahrar Al-Sham leaders by what the group says was a car bomb. New head of Ahrar Al-Sham is Hashem al-Sheikh.
2. Zahran Alloush(†), the general Commander of Jaysh al-Islam or Islam Army, a group of more than 50 brigades. He is the son of a Saudi-based religious scholar named sheikh Abdullah Mohammed Alloush. Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011. He was incarcerated for his Salafist opposition activities. Killed by an air strike in a rural place in the eastern Ghouta on December 25, 2015
3. Ahmad `Aisa al-Shaykh, or Abu Aissa, commander of Suqour al-Sham Brigade, Falcons of Syria Brigade, based in Idlib.
4. Abdul Qader Al-Salih (†), the high Commander of Liwa al-Tawhid, Unity Brigade, in Aleppo. The formal top leader is Abdelaziz Salame. Salih was killed and Salame wounded in an air strike in mid November 2013.
5. Bashar Al-Zoubi, the Commander of Liwa al-Yarmouk in the south of Syria around Deraa.

2011

• أوغاريت إعلان تشكيل الجيش السوري الحر العقيد رياض الأسعد 29 7 2011 (Declaration of the Formation of the Free Syrian Army by Colonel Riad Assad) - UgaritNEWSChannel, July7 29, 2011 (video)

Formation of Islamic Front

Groups aligned with the Islamic Front

Emblem of Jabha al-Islamiya

On November 22, 2013, in a statement read by Suqour al-Sham's Ahmad Aisa Al-Shaykh, the formation of al-Jabha al-Islamiya (the Islamic Front) was announced, which merges all above listed important militant groups. Present were among others Abboud, who became the new "political commander", and Alloush who is the new "military commander" of the group presided by Al-Shaykh. With this move the different fractions of what was once called the FSA are maybe closest to the organized structure the FSA was described as in the early days of misreporting, although with explicit denunciation of the external "SNC" leadership and the artificial FSA command structure "SMC" led by Salem Idris, and with the explicit goal of forming an Islamic state under Sharia law. The original alleged head of the FSA, Riad Al-As'aad, was reported missing around the time of the group's formation.

Following the formation, an intense lobbying campaign by a Saudi-Israeli alliance started to sell this group as the new and last "moderate" hope to American policy makers, asking them to increase training and fund a support plan budgeted around 6 billion dollars.

Apparently without success, because on December 11, 2013 the US and Britain announced that they were freezing non-lethal aid to the opposition indefinitely after the Islamic Front took control of several bases in northern Syria. The same day Salim Idris fled over Turkey to Qatar. Said an US official "I wouldn't say this is the end of the SMC and the end of Gen. Idris".

During early 2014 with the rise of ISIS, important people in the Islamic Front made more moderate statements trying to distance themselves and winning central funding sources back, while continuing to fight alongside Al-Nusra Front.

Killed Ahrar Al-Sham leaders

By Summer 2014, the Islamic Front remained the largest organized Syrian anti-government militia not part of ISIS. With the September 9 death of almost the entire leadership of Ahrar al-Sham, many of which had also important roles in the Islamic Front, it remains to be seen if this organization will continue to play its role as intermediary between hardcore Wahhabi and the few remaining "secular" FSA-type groups.

After smaller groups joined in the following months, in late March 2015 it was announced that Ahrar al-Sham and Suqour al-Sham would join forces and merge into Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiya under the leadership of Hashem al-Sheikh with Ahmad Aisa Al-Shaykh as deputy. This makes it the largest fraction inside Islamic Front with estimated 15-25,000 fighters, taking over from Alloush's Army of Islam.

In September 2015, apparently pretty healthy, not least because they are what's left to be seriously called "moderate rebels" by Western media, Ahrar al-Sham elected as new head of the organization a certain Abu Yahia al-Hamawi, aka Mohannad al-Masri, a Syrian citizen born in 1981 originating from Idlib province, after the previous leader resigned.

2014 Developments

September

• It s reported that "The Syrian National Coalition (SNC), the main opposition political alliance, has dissolved the leadership of its armed wing, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) led by Gen. Abdelila al-Bashir, on the grounds that it does not represent all the opposition forces. In a statement Monday, the head of the SNC, Hadi al-Bahra, explained that the "dissolution" of the Supreme Military Council of the FSA was aimed at including all the military factions and revolutionary groups operating in Syria."
• Congress gave President Obama authority to provide funding and military training to Syrian opposition forces , now led by Bahra (SNC). "Critics are skeptical that arms provided by the West could fall into the wrong hands and that the vetting and training process will take too long to effectively combat ISIS."
• Hadi al Bahra (SNC) addresses United Nations General Assembly

The 5th Corps

In an October 21, 2014, article with the ambitious title "The Moderate Rebels: A Complete and Growing List of Vetted Groups", Hasan Mustafa starts with the following before going into details of a rather long list of subgroups:

5th Corps: The 5th Corps is a recently declared formation consisting of five moderate rebel groups linked to the FSA’s Supreme Military Council (SMC) that have all adopted the revolutionary independence flag as their symbol. Led by a joint command council, it consists of the 13th Division, the 101st Division, Knights of Truth Brigade, Suqour Jabal al-Zawiya Brigade, and the 1st Brigades. All five have received TOWs provided by the international “Friends of Syria” alliance led by the U.S. through the Military Operations Command center in Reyhanli, Turkey. Active in northern Syria, the 5th Corps commands a few thousand men who fight against both the Syrian regime and ISIS.

Revolutionary Command Council

At a three day meeting in Turkey in late November, a new umbrella group named Revolutionary Command Council (RCC, majlis qiyadat al-thawra) was formed among 72 "rebel" groups, including most of the usual suspects. Apparently to the surprise of the organizers, "only 6 or 7" of the 17 seats in the council went to "moderate" groups with the rest going to the likes of Ahrar Al Sham. This happened while the not-invited Al Nusra Front again raided some of the "moderate" groups bases and captured an additional bunch of shiny U.S. weapons.

According to a Reuters article from December 2, the U.S. "vetted" militias Syrian Revolutionary Front and Harakat Hazm dropped out of the RCC after the conference because of the dominance of Islamists. According to the article, "there are at least two other projects underway, albeit at a nascent stage, to create a credible, unified military opposition that could be supported by foreign states."

Despite the pull out, according to "rebel"/mercenary sources cited by McClatchy, the U.S. stopped paying salary to most fighters of the two groups a week later.

In late December groups belonging to the RCC announced to have formed a joint command specifically for Aleppo, called al-Jabha al-Shamiya or the "Levant Front". It is headed by Liwa Al-Tawhid leader Adelaziz Salame. Aron Lund suspects that this was mainly done to be able to speak with one voice in the negotiations about a "freeze" the UN is trying to broker in face of the Syrian Arab Army coming close to finishing their encirclement of the militant-controlled eastern part of the city.

2015 Developments

• The Factions of North Latakia, Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, Syria Comment, December 10, 2015

US Support

Main article: US involvement in Syria

• 'Secret CIA effort in Syria faces large funding cut, Washington Post, 12.6.2015 The House Intelligence Committee recently voted unanimously to cut as much as 20 percent of the classified funds flowing into a CIA program that U.S. officials said has become one the agency’s largest covert operations, with a budget approaching $1 billion a year. The decision reflects growing pessimism that the United States will be in a position “to help shape the aftermath” of Syria’s civil war'.
• Top US general: There are only 'four or five' US-backed Syrian rebels fighting, Business Insider, September 16, 2015.
• Russian Airstrike in Syria Targeted CIA-Backed Rebels, U.S. Officials Say - Adam Entous, The Wall Street Journal, September 30, 2015
• Syrian rebels say Russia targets them rather than Islamic State - Anne Barnard, The New York Times, September 30, 2015

  Russian aircraft carried out a bombing attack against Syrian opposition fighters on Wednesday, including at least one group trained by the C.I.A., eliciting angry protests from American officials and plunging the complex sectarian war there into dangerous new territory.

• Syrian rebels say they receive more weapons for Aleppo battle -Reuters, October 19, 2015

The delivery of the U.S.-made [anti-tank] TOW missiles to rebels in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria appears to be an initial response to the new Russian-Iranian intervention.

• "Interesting, seems the 16th Infantry Division (#FSA) is now receiving TOW missiles", @arabthomness, 24.11.2015

Maghawir al-Thawra

According to its leader in an interview in June 2017, a bunch of initially 120 FSA fighters who fled ISIS to Jordan were trained by the US under the initial name "New Syrian Army", starting in May 2015. By the time of the interview they are a couple of hundreds and hang out with US troops at the al-Tanf border crossing, properly indoctrinated to prevent a "Shiite crescent" formed by both Syrian and Iraqi state forces opening the Damascus-Baghdad highway going through this place.

Talks with (or in) Russia

• April 2015. Talks in Moscow involving the government and opposition resulted in adoption of a joint declaration (here on Russian FM site). Based on Geneva communique, against terrorism. Press briefing was presented by V.V. Naumkin, director of an institute of eastern studies, Russian academy of sciences. National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces did not show up, according to the briefing (beginning+33:30).

• October 2015. FSA proposed talks with Russia in Cairo. Earlier, and offer of Russian military assistance was rejected.

Syrian Democratic Forces

Rojava parliament in Derik

Flag of SDF

On October 15, 2015, the formation of a coalition of 13 armed groups under the name of "Syrian Democratic Forces" was announced. Beside several smaller Arab groups operating in the north-eastern parts of Syria, the by far largest group is the Kurdish YPG/YPJ. In their declaration they express intent to fight ISIS and thank the US-led coalition for their support which they hope will continue in the future. Some suspect that the formation of this body of groups that had already worked together anyway is intended for plausible deniability of arming the YPG, which Turkey had warned in no uncertain terms both the US and Russia not to do. In July 2017, US General Raymond Thomas revealed that this was indeed the case, that he told the YPG to "change their brand" to appease Turkey.

On December 8, 2015, the SDF held a conference in Derik where the formation of a political body Democratic Syria Assembly (MSD) with 42 seats was announced.

In late 2019 the SDF has according to their own account 80,000 fighters and 30,000 security personnel.

2016 Developments

• US-backed rebels force US commandos to leave Syrian town, RT (Eng.), 17 Sep, 2016

US special forces troops had to withdraw from the town of al-Rai on Syria’s border with Turkey, after allies from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) had driven them out, calling them “infidels” and “crusaders,” several media outlets have reported.

Rusvesna, 17 Sep, 2016; video, 16 Sep, 2016.

Lots of shouting on the video. Pickup trucks with mounted machine guns, US style uniform fighters, and a few Abrams tanks seen leaving, while the crowd chants something in Arabic, which includes 'America!'.

Syrian Elite Forces

The self-proclaimed "Syrian Elite Forces" are an Arab tribal militia led by former Syrian National Council president and important Shammar tribe member Ahmad Jarba, and the military wing of his Syrian Tomorrow Party. Supported by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, the militia initially fought only in Hasakah and Deir Ez-Zor provinces, but in December 2016 joined the US-supported SDF-led effort to conquer Raqqa from ISIS.

2017 Developments

• Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham Disbands 13th Division In Ma’arat al-Nu’man - South Front, June 10, 2017
• America Had Already Lost Its Covert War in Syria—Now It’s Official - Sam Heller, July 21, 2017

  As for the “moderate rebel force,” for the last several years much of America’s support has gone to “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) factions that have functioned as battlefield auxiliaries and weapons farms for larger Islamist and jihadist factions, including Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate.

2018 Developments

Erdogan's Gangs

Gangs involved in what Turkey calls the "Syrian National Army", Dec 29, 2018

Many of the groups formed over the years in the several programs find themselves recycled as cannon fodder in the Turkish attack on the Kurdish Afrin canton in the very north-west of Syria. Erdogan threatens to widen this attack to the cantons in the east where the US supports the groups going under the label SDF. Firat News Agency breaks down "Erdogan's gangs" which include some who are allegedly still paid by the Pentagon.

October 2020. It is said that fighters from Syrian pro-Turkish Hamza division (Wikipedia; logo) or Sultan Murad division are fighting in Nagornyi Karabakh on Azerbaijani side.

• Rybar telegram channel 1, 2 3
• Al-Hamza Division: Elite Special Forces of the SNA in Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan - RIAFAN, October 10, 2020
• Daily Beast (paywalled), October, 2020

Sources

• Sorting out the Syrian opposition – David Ignatius, April 2, 2013
  • Sorting out David Ignatius – Aron Lund, April 3rd, 2013
• Key anti-Assad rebel leader acknowledges al Qaida past, potentially complicating U.S. aid in Syria – MITCHELL PROTHERO, McClatchy, January 17, 2014
• THE FREE SYRIAN ARMY – Elizabeth O'Bagy (PDF)
• EXCLUSIVE: Shaikh Hassan Abboud's final interview, Middle East Monitor, September 22, 2014

Just hours before an explosion wiped out the entire leadership of one of the most powerful rebel groups in Syria, the head of Ahrar Al-Sham Brigade spent four hours talking to Yvonne Ridley about his vision for the future. In an amazingly frank interview, this is what he told her.

• Has Russia saved the Assad regime from collapse?, Aljazeera, October 5, 2015. 'Khaled Khoja, president of the Syrian National Coalition, discusses Russia's military offensive in the war-torn country'. -Most of the material is in the embedded interview video. Claims that opposition has 70 thousand loosely linked fighters, and that fighting on the government side is mostly done by Iranians. Calls for a Western-imposed no-fly zone ...

Wikipedia on Syrian opposition

• "New Approach in Southern Syria", International Crisis Group, 2.9.2015 (US-centric approach, retold/studied on rusvesna...presents the case for how is that Assad fuels more jihadism...)

Collapse

• Free Syrian Army rebels defect to Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra - Mona Mahmood and Ian Black, The Guardian, 8 May 2013
• Main U.S.-Backed Syrian Rebel Group Disbanding, Joining Islamists - Jamie Dettmer, The Daily Beast, March 1, 2015

  The Syrian rebel group Harakat al-Hazm, one of the White House’s most trusted militias fighting President Bashar al-Assad, collapsed Sunday, with activists posting a statement online from frontline commanders saying they are disbanding their units and folding them into brigades aligned with a larger Islamist insurgent alliance distrusted by Washington.

• Four Years Later, The Free Syrian Army Has Collapsed - Erin Banco, International Business Times, March 14, 2015
• US Complains as Russia Bombs Its Terrorists - Tony Cartalucci, New Eastern Outlook, October 1, 2015

Western support

• Sweden’s terror links + Complicity in terror - Patrik Paulov, Morning Star, August 3-4, 2021

Equipment

• "TOW" destroys a tent
• a tank takes a hit (at the end it is shown by what; possibly a version of PTUR, like e.g. here)
• Rebels received a large shipment of "Grad" missiles -Rusvesna, referring to Reuters report, Feb. 13, 2016. Embedded video shows rebels firing (apparently non-USSR) version of Grad. Video is dated as February 2015 in the report (and February 2016 on the video itself).

Analysis

• There is No FSA, There is Only Al-Qaeda - William Van Wagenen, The Libertarian Institute, December 27, 2017