Southern Front of the Free Syrian Army
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Southern Front | |
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الجبهة الجنوبية Participant in the Syrian Civil War |
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The Syrian Independence flag flanked by an AK-47 on each side
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Active | 14 February 2014[1] – present |
Ideology | Non-hardline Islamism[2] Secularism[3][4] Syrian nationalism[5][6] Anti-authoritarianism[6] Constitutionalism[6] |
Leaders | Gen. Bashar al-Zoubi[7] (Overall Leader) Brig. Gen. Ziad Fahd[8] (Deputy Chief of Staff) Lt. Col. Majid al-Sayid Ahmed (Head of the Operations Department) Colonel Saber Safar (Member of the Military Council)[9] Colonel Bakur Salim al-Salim (Member of the Military Council)[9] Colonel Khaled al-Nabulsi (Member of the Military Council)[9] Major Hassam Ibrahim (Member of the Military Council)[9] Captain Said Nakresh (Member of the Military Council)[9] Ahmad al-Awdesh (Member of the Military Council)[9] Samer al-Haboush (Member of the Military Council)[9] |
Headquarters | Amman[10] |
Area of operations | Daraa Governorate[11] Quneitra Governorate[11] As Suwayda Governorate[11] Damascus[11] |
Strength | 25,000 (Nov. 2015)[12] |
Part of | Free Syrian Army (claimed) |
Allies | |
Opponents | |
Battles and wars | Syrian Civil War |
The Southern Front is a Syrian rebel alliance consisting of 58[16] or 54[2] Syrian opposition factions. It's disputed whether the coalition is part of the Free Syrian Army.[16]
The Southern Front commands the loyalty of 70% of active operations rooms in southern Syria[17] and holds control of 70% of Daraa Governorate alone.[18] The Southern Front was established on 14 February 2014 in southern Syria.[1]
Claims have been made by the Southern Front itself[19] and by media in Britain,[16] Germany[2] and the United Arab Emirates[20] that the Southern Front is being funded by the US and its allies, possibly through a US led Military Operations Center (MOC) based in Amman, Jordan. Since its formation, rebels said, field operation rooms have been added inside Syria to improve coordination between units.[10] The coalition is "described by Western officials as the best organized of the mainstream opposition".[21] The constituent groups range from secularist groups to moderate religious groups, and the Southern front has been described as a "non-hardline Islamist rebel group" that rejects extremism.[2]
Contents
Nature of the Front; relation with FSA
The Southern Front is an alliance of 54 rebel groups, ranging from secularist to moderately religious.[2] In mid-February, foreign intelligence officers affiliated with the U.S.-led clandestine Military Operations Command in Jordan convened a meeting of moderate rebel forces and leaders in Southern Syria near Deraa. They directed them to create a new umbrella coalition, and the Southern front was formed on February 13, 2014.[22] Bashar el-Zoubi, head of the Yarmouk division, said to the BBC in 2014 that the groups or factions of the Southern Front are militarily coordinated by a moving command centre with a unified leadership but with no overall commander and no centralised command—which is contradictory.[16] The formation of the front and its backing by western forces challenged al-Nusra's military and political success in the region, though Southern Front units continued to cooperate with al-Nusra forces.[22]
In spite of its suggestive name, there is no ground to assume that this 'Southern Front of the Free Syrian Army' is part of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), and the coalition of armed groups that it presents has no central leadership.
The Carter Center, a private organization in the U.S. promoting human rights globally, in February 2015 also described ‘The Southern Front’ as a loose coalition of self-described moderate armed groups without leadership or organizational structure, that has agreed on the name ‘Southern Front’ to receive support from the ‘Friends of Syria’ (“an international diplomatic collective, which focuses on supporting the Syrian opposition”[23]) through the southern MOC (“Military Operations Center”[24] which is not further defined by Carter Center).[25]
History
On 13 November 2014, it was reported that 15 factions of the Southern Front drew up a political program as an alternative to the exile-led opposition in Turkey, in which they are planning to turn the Southern Front into a civilian security force.[21] At the same time a provincial council was established. This political program is intended to have "broad appeal among Syrian civilians and to undercut support for more extreme interpretations of Islam that has been spreading".[20]
Around that time, almost 40 small rebel groups joined the First Corps in the south.[20]
On 27 December 2014, the 18 March Division, Yarmouk Army, Fallujah of Houran Brigade and Lions of Sunna Brigade merged under the command structure of the Hawks of the South coalition to strengthen the Southern Front.[26]
On 1 January 2015, the Hamza Division, Syria Revolutionaries Front (SRF) southern command and 1st Artillery Regiment merged under the command structure of the First Army.[27]
On 25 March 2015, the Southern Front captured the town of Bosra after a 3-day long battle.[28]
On 1 April 2015, the Southern Front captured the Nasib border crossing, the last government-controlled border crossing into Jordan.[29]
On 15 May 2015, the Southern Front unified under one military council, chaired by 7 senior members.[9] On 1 June 2015, the Southern Front paraded for the graduation of one thousand new members.[30]
After the Southern Front's strategic victory at the capture of Brigade 52 in early June 2015, an analyst from the Institute for Strategic Studies stated that "The Southern Front is now showing itself as an increasingly effective buffer against Islamist rebels as well as an effective means for applying pressure on the Assad regime", and Southern Front spokesman Issam al-Reis stated that "We have most of Daraa liberated, our lines of defense behind us are solid, and now we can start the operation toward Damascus and the highway leading to it".[18]
On 17 June 2015, the Southern Front launched an offensive to take all of Quneitra province.[31]
On 25 June 2015, the Southern Front announced "Southern Storm", an offensive to capture Daraa city, where the Syrian Revolution began in 2012.[32] By mid-August the offensive had failed to make significant advances, but the government had responded by increasing attacks on civilian neighborhoods, killing dozens of civilians, leading to public demonstrations against the Southern Front's failed strategy.[2] An analysis by the Heinrich Böll Foundation suggested that the Southern Front had failed to receive significant support from the Military Operations Center in Jordan.[2]
Support and funding
General Ibrahim Jbawi, spokesman for the Southern Front, stated in November 2014 that his group received money and weapons from the US, France, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.[19] Activists said that Jordan also facilitated the Southern Front by allowing them to cross freely to and from Jordan.[19]
The Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) based newspaper The National stated in November 2014 that the Military Operations Command centre (MOC) in Amman, Jordan, staffed by “western and Arab military officials”,[33] had sent out food baskets to six rebel factions in southern Syria, presumably members of the Southern Front.[20] The BBC, not revealing its sources, claimed in December 2014 that the Southern Front was “backed” through the Military Operations Center in Jordan, “a logisitics and supply hub” run by the US with European and Arab allies.[16] The German Heinrich Böll Foundation claimed in 2015 that the Southern Front is being “funded” by a Military Operations Center (MOC) in Amman, Jordan which is run by “the US and its allies”, but did not specify or corroborate what that ‘funding’ implied.[2] But no American official has yet admitted US support for the Southern Front.[16]
The National also reported that Southern Front members participating in the fight against the Syrian government receive $50-$100 per month while those who fight against ISIL receive $100-$250 per month from the MOC. However, the MOC threatened to cut funds unless the SF launch an offensive against ISIL.[34]
Battles
Member groups
- First Army[27]
- 18 March Division
- Yarmouk Army
- Lions of Sunna Brigade
- First Corps[20][35]
- First Commando Division
- 46th Infantry Division[36]
- Division of Decisiveness
- Muhajerin and Ansar Brigade
- Tahrir al-Sham Division
- Dawn of Islam Division
- Youth of Sunnah Brigade
- Jaysh al-Ababil
- Quneitra Military Council
- Sword of al-Sham Brigades
- Martyrs of Islam Brigade
- Gathering of Righteousness/Al Haq Division[37][38]
- Ahrar Nawa Division[39]
- Hamza Assadullah Brigade
- al-Ezz bin Abdessalam Brigade
- Karama Brigade
- Horan Mujahideen[40]
- Shuhada Douma Brigade
- Ghouta Mujahedin Brigade
- Tawhid Kata'ib Horan
- Lower Qalamoun Brigade
- Eleventh Division/Upper Qalamoun
- al-Moutazz Billah Brigade
- Special Assignments Brigade
- Freedom Martyrs Brigade
- al-Lajat Shield Brigade
- al-Haramein al-Sharifein Brigade
- Habib Brigade
- Bunyan Battalion
- Usoud al-Islam Battalion
- Salaheddin Brigade
- Houran Storm Brigade
- Tawhid al-Lajat Battalion
- First Knights' Regiment
- Second Knights' Regiment
- al-Moutassem Billah Battalion
- Homs al-Walid Brigade
- Ahfad ibn al-Walid Brigade
- Special Assignments Regiment
- Martyr of Houran Brigade
- Western Countryside Ahrar Battalion[11]
Former members
- Hawks of the South[26] (inactive)[41]
- Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade (joined ISIL)
- 1st Brigade(dissolved into Al-Rahman Legion)[42][43][44]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Yes, there are 70,000 moderate opposition fighters in Syria. Here’s what we know about them
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ ‘Syrian rebels get arms and advice through secret command centre in Amman’. The National, 29 December 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ https://twitter.com/arabthomness/status/719980721117478913
- ↑ https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566891-fsa-factions-reorganizing-in-southern-syria
- ↑ https://twitter.com/BosnjoBoy/status/725716339747332096
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/syriancivilwar/comments/3q74rv/daraa_in_last_six_days_four_small_groups_have/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/684455498456936448
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ_5CMciMXY&feature=youtu.be
- ↑ https://twitter.com/ShamiRebel/status/724990310200299521
- ↑ https://beyondthelevant.com/2016/04/26/english-statement-first-brigade-in-damascus-has-fully-merged-with-al-rahman-corps/