Syria: Key Rebel Groups in Civil War
(Updated June 2013)
Group Name | Leader | Aims/Ideology |
Main Fronts: | ||
Supreme Military Command (SMC) | General Salim Idriss | Set up in December 2012 under the Syrian National Coalition in an effort to unite rebels backed by Western and Arab Gulf governments. Has limited control on the groud. General Idriss is a defector from the Syrian army. |
Syrian Islamic Front | Abu Abdullah al-Hamawi | Syrian Islamists. Ubcydes Ahrar al-Sham and other Salafist groups. Cooperates with SMC. Hamawi is the chair of the Collective Leader's Council |
Syrian Liberation Front | Sheikh Ahmed Issa | Coalition of Islamist groups. Independent of mainstream fighters, but works closely with them. Some leaders sit on the SMC. |
Fighting Groups: | ||
Jahbat al-Nusra | Abu Muhammad al-Golani | Salafist jihadists with a global vision of an Islamist state. Mainly foreign leadership, Syrian soldiers. Linked to Al-Qaeda. |
Ahrar al-Sham | Abu Abdel Rahman al-Suri | Salafist jihadists with national aims. Cooperate with other groups. Strongest component of Syrian Islamic Front. Political leader is Abu Ayman. |
Farouq Battalions | Osama Sayeh al-Jinidi | A mixed bunch, raning from devout to mild Islamists. Started in Homs, now nationwide; includes Farouq al-Shamal in the north. Controls some border crossings. |
Liwa al-Tawhid | Abdulkader Saleh (Haj Marea) | Umbrella force in Aleppo, included int he Syrian Liberation Front. Its leader sits on the SMC. |
Saqour al-Sham | Sheikh Ahmed Issa | Most powerful fighting force in Idleb. Islamist. Its leader heads the Syrian Liberation Front. |
Ansar al-Islam | Abu Moaz al-Agha | Umbrella for Islamist factions around Damascus, including powerful Liwa al-Islam |
Ahfad al-Rasul | Ziad Haj Obeid | Part of Ansar al-Islam in Damascus, where it has carried out assassinations; also has offshoot in Idleb |
Ghurabaa | Omar Hilal | Islamist group with growing presence in Aleppa and Raqqa; works with all other groups |
Democratic Union Party | Salih Muslim | Syrian offshoot of Turkey's Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). Neither with the regime nor with the rebels. Its militias control Kurdish areas in north-east Syria. |
Sources: The Economist (May 18, 2013)