Ahrar al-Sham

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Harakat Ahrar ash-Sham al-Islamiya
حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية


Flag of Ahrar al-Scham Logo of Ahrar al-Scham

Logo Ahrar al-Sham.jpg
Lineup 2011
Strength 20,000
Insinuation Syrian Islamic Front (2011-2013 joined IF)

Islamic Front (2013–)

Butcher civil war in Syria
Web presence ahraralsham.com
Commanders
former commander in chief Abu Dschabir (2014-2015) Battle name : Hashim el-Sheikh

Hassan Abboud (2011–2014) † Battle name : Abu Abdullah al-Hamawi Abu Yahya al-Hamawi (2015–2016)

The Ahrar al-Sham ( Arabic حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية Harakat Ahrār al-shām al-islāmīya  'Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant ') are an Islamist - Salafist armed militia consisting of several brigades. She has been fightingthe Syrian armysince October 2011 in the civil war in Syria . The Ahrar asch-Scham were founded by Hassan Aboud . In 2014, the Ahrar asch-Scham consisted of an estimated 20,000 fighters, making it the largest unit in the fight against the Syrian government after the Free Syrian Army . The Ahrar al-Sham was one of the mainfounding members ofthe Syrian Islamic Front and has beena main component ofthe Islamic Front since its inception.

Foundation and organization

The Ahrar al-Sham first appeared in the second half of 2011 in the province of Idlib . In December 2012 she founded the so-called Syrian Islamic Front with eleven other Islamist militias. The Ahrar al-Sham was the most prominent of them. In November 2013, the Syrian Islamic Front announced that it would be fully integrated into the newly established Islamic Front and the Ahrar al-Sham also integrated into it, but remained as a separate, partially autonomous rebel organization. They are also members of the Jaish al-Fatah Military Alliance , which is subordinate to the High Command of the Islamic Front. Because in addition to a purely military arm, they are also politically represented in the areas they control. The rebel group has its own offices for military, religious, social and financial affairs. Each office reports to a commander. The group was under the command of its leader Hasan Abbud until he was killed in a bomb attack on September 9, 2014. Abu Jabir was named as the new leader. On September 12, 2015, Ahrar Al-Sham said they had appointed a new leader, Abu Yahya al-Hamawi, an engineer and veteran fighter from Hama province .

ideology

The group's influences are largely from the field of Islamism , although some followers also refer to Salafism . The group views their war as jihad , but emphasizes "that it is a fight for Syria, not for global jihad."

In one of their first audio messages, the Ahrar asch-Scham stated that their goal was to replace the Assad government with an Islamic state , but emphasized the need to consult all segments of the population on the matter. They also described that the uprising could be justified as jihad against a new Safavid empire. The spokesman said that the Shiites wanted to spread Shiism and establish a new Shiite empire that extends from Iran through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon and with Palestine as the coronation.

Individual leaders of the Ahrar al-Sham are considered allies of the terrorist organization Al-Nusra Front .

The Attorney General classifies the group as a foreign terrorist organization . The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, on the other hand, has classified the group as "moderate opposition" since December 30, 2016. The fact that United States Department of State and the UK they do not step one as terrorist. According to a collection published by Reuters in September 2016, Egypt , Iraq , Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates classify them as terrorist.

Classification as a terrorist organization

Ahrar al-Sham has been classified as a terrorist organization in Germany, although the US and Turkey support the group. There are trials in Germany against former fighters and supporters of the Ahrar al Sham for supporting a foreign terrorist organization.

Development in the Syrian Civil War

The militia was involved in rescuing NBC journalists Richard Engel, Ghazi Balkiz, John Kooistra, Aziz Akyavas and Ammar Cheikhomar in 2012 after they were kidnapped by pro-Assad militia Shabiha in December 2012.

Military situation after the Raqqa offensive led by Ahrar al-Sham in 2013

In March 2013 she led an offensive in the governorate of ar-Raqqa , which culminated in the fact that the capital of the same name, ar-Raqqa , was captured in cooperation with the Free Syrian Army .

In August 2013, members of an Ahrar al-Sham brigade uploaded a video showing the shooting down of a MiG-21 belonging to the Syrian Army. The plane was shot down with a Chinese HongYing-6 , the first time since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War that a warplane was destroyed by rebels.

Human Rights Watch released a report on October 11, 2013 after Ahrar al-Sham and other armed groups participated in massacres in rural areas of Latakia province from August 4 to 18, which killed at least 190 civilians and killed over 200 civilians were taken hostage.

In mid-November 2013, after a battle near Aleppo International Airport, a commander of the 3rd Brigade of the group of extremists from the terrorist organization ISIS was kidnapped and beheaded. The extremists believed the commander was a pro-Iraqi fighter.

In December 2013 there were reports of fierce fighting between Islamic rebel groups (including the Ahrar Al-Sham) and the terrorist organization ISIS in the cities of Maskana, Aleppo and ar-Raqqa. These fighting ended with the capture of ar-Raqqa and much of ar-Raqqa governorate by ISIS.

The important Syrian border crossing Bab al-Hawa to Turkey has been controlled and administered by the Ahrar al-Sham since July 2014 .

On September 9, 2014, a bomb exploded at a high-level meeting in Idlib province, killing Hassan Abboud , the group's leader, 27 senior commanders, including military field commanders, members of the Shura council and the leaders of the Allied brigades. Nobody took responsibility for the attack. However, the day after the attack, Abu Jabir was announced as the new leader.

On the night of November 6, 2014, Ahrar al-Sham reported a US air strike, the first time a Syrian opposition group had been attacked by coalition forces. Bombs hit the group's headquarters in Idlib governorate, killing Abu al-Nasr, the militia's armorer.

On November 24, 2014, one of the group's fighter captured by ISIS died in a US air strike on ISIS headquarters in Ar-Raqqah.

On March 24, 2015, Ahrar al-Sham joined the Jaish al-Fatah military alliance . On March 23, the newly founded alliance launched an offensive and captured the capital of the Idlib governorate of the same name on March 30, 2015 in the battle for Idlib 2015 . The Ahrar al-Sham played a key role in the capture.

Military situation after the Ahrar al-Sham led Idlib offensive in 2015

On March 30, 2015, the New York Times published an article addressing a fatwa by the Saudi cleric Abdullah Al-Muhaisini, who has joined the Ahrar Al-Sham. Al-Muhaisini orders that Christians must not be killed and should be protected if they behave in compliance . Al-Muhaisini also claimed that the Assad government was bombing Christian homes in Idlib province .

At the end of April 2015, the Jaish al-Fatah launched a new offensive in the vicinity of the city of Jisr al-Shughur and captured this strategically important city on April 28, 2015 in cooperation with the Free Syrian Army .

On May 28, 2015, the city of Ariha and the surrounding villages were completely conquered by the Jaish al-Fatah within just 3 hours , according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights .

On July 14, 2015, two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the city of Salqin , an Ahrar al-Sham headquarters in Idlib province, killing Abu Abdul Rahman Salqeen (an Ahrar al-Sham leader) and 5-6 other rebel fighters. Ahrar al-Sham blamed the terrorist organization ISIS for the attack and immediately afterwards arrested 15 activists who were suspected of sympathizing with ISIS.

In August 2016, a militia group joined Operation Euphrates Shield and attacked IS positions in Jarabulus .

In December 2015, a representative of Ahrar al-Sham took part in negotiations in Riyadh , the aim of which was to unite the opposition in the Syrian civil war for negotiations in Geneva. The Ahrar al-Sham representative was disavowed by the leaders of the Ahrar al-Sham on Twitter after the final declaration was signed. The Ahrar al-Sham are known for their contradicting statements: on the one hand, they represent hard Salafist positions internally, such as the rejection of democracy, and, on the other hand, they try to portray themselves as moderate towards the West. During the negotiations in Riyadh, Turkey and Qatar tried to organize recognition and support for the Ahrar al-Sham, but the leaders of the group were not prepared to give up their alliance with al-Qaeda in return.

In December 2016, the militia participated in the peace talks in Astana and "conditionally" approved the ceasefire agreements.

Until the end of July 2017, the Ahrar al-Sham suffered heavy losses in the Idlib governorate through fighting with the Haiʾat Tahrir asch-Scham (HTS), whose core is also formed by fighters from the former al-Nusra Front .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Rainer Hermann : Fratricidal War among Syria's Islamists. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , September 10, 2014.
  2. ↑ a b Syria rebels name slain leader's replacement. In: Al Jazeera English . September 10, 2014, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Aron Lund: Holy Warriors. Foreign Policy , October 5, 2012, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Suicide bombing kills head of the Syrian rebel group. In: The Daily Star . September 9, 2014, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  5. ↑ a b c Stefan Binder: Rebel group Ahrar al-Sham: Those believed dead live longer. In: Der Standard , September 24, 2015.
  6. ↑ a b Aron Lund: Freedom fighters? Cannibals? The truth about Syria's rebels. In: The Independent . June 17, 2013, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  7. ^ Leading Syrian rebel groups form new Islamic Front. In: BBC . November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013 .
  8. ^ Competition among Islamists. In: The Economist . July 20, 2013, accessed May 30, 2015 .
  9. ^ Tentative Jihad Syria's fundamentalist opposition. International Crisis Group, August 12, 2015, archived from the original on January 20, 2013 ; accessed on September 23, 2019 .
  10. ↑ a b Jürg Bischoff: The Asad opponents are ready to talk. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , December 11, 2015.
  11. ^ Indictment of supporting the foreign terrorist group 'Ahrar al Sham' In: generalbundesanwalt.de , June 25, 2015.
  12. ↑ Holger Schmidt : Terror suspect as an undercover agent. In: tagesschau.de , January 28, 2016.
  13. ^ Matthias Stelzer: Terrorist Helper Trial: BKA official provides information about the Syrian militia. In: Südwest Presse , December 23, 2015.
  14. ↑ List of armed formations, which joined the ceasefire in the Syrian Arab Republic on December 30, 2016. In: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation , December 29, 2016 (English).
  15. ↑ reuters.com : List of Armed Groups in Syria
  16. ↑ Germany convicts 4, calls US-backed Syrian group Ahrar al-Sham a “terrorist organization” . In: New Europe . October 7, 2016 ( neweurope.eu [accessed July 28, 2018]).
  17. ↑ One of Syria's most powerful rebel groups is rebranding itself with Turkey's backing . In: Business Insider . ( businessinsider.com [accessed July 28, 2018]).
  18. ↑ For Turkey the loss of Idlib would be a low blow
  19. ↑ CITIZENSHIP OF THE FREE AND HANSEAL CITY OF HAMBURG: Printed matter 21/7232. CITIZENSHIP OF THE FREE AND HANSESTADT HAMBURG, December 20, 16, SS 1–2 , accessed on July 28, 2018 .
  20. ^ Abendzeitung, Germany: Syrian terror fighters from Ahrar Al-Sham in Munich in court . ( Abendzeitung-muenchen.de [accessed on July 28, 2018]).
  21. ↑ Spencer Ackerman: Islamic Extremists Rescue NBC Reporter Held in Syria. Wired, accessed May 29, 2015 .
  22. ^ NBC News Alter Account of Correspondent's Kidnapping in Syria
  23. ^ Syria crisis: Guide to armed and political opposition. BBC News, October 17, 2013, accessed May 25, 2015 .
  24. ↑ Online videos showcase Syrian rebels' foreign weaponry. Reuters, accessed July 7, 2013 .
  25. ^ Syria: Executions, Hostage Taking by Rebels. Planned Attacks on Civilians Constitute Crimes Against Humanity. Human Rights Watch, October 11, 2013, accessed October 11, 2013 .
  26. ↑ Syrian rebel 'beheaded in case of mistaken identity'. BBC, accessed May 30, 2015 .
  27. ↑ Avashin ISIS kills number of Ahrar Al Sham… In: yallasouriya.wordpress.com. December 10, 2013, accessed December 17, 2013 .
  28. ↑ #BREAKING: Intense clashes between #ISIS and Ahrar al-Sham in Maskana town #Aleppo north of #Syria to seize control on Jarah Airport: zaidbenjamin. Inagist.com, December 9, 2013, archived from the original on December 19, 2013 ; accessed on September 23, 2019 .
  29. ↑ TheDailyStar: Rebel infighting closes Bab al-Hawa crossing
  30. ↑ Mark Piggott: Syrian Civil War: 'At Least 45' Killed as Blast Hits Meeting of Islamist Insurgents. In: International Business Times . Retrieved May 30, 2015 .
  31. ↑ SN4HR - http://sn4hr.org/public_html/wp-content/pdf/english/force-in-oct-en.pdf
  32. ↑ US-led air strikes on Syria ISIL targets 'kill 1,600'. AlJazeera, accessed February 23, 2015 .
  33. ↑ New Islamist alliance seizes Idlib from Syrian troops. France24, accessed May 30, 2015 .
  34. ^ Anne Barnard: An Anxious Wait in Syrian City Held by Insurgents. In: The New York Times , March 30, 2015.
  35. ↑ Anne Barnard, Hwaida Saad: Islamists Seize Control of Syrian City in North West. In: The New York Times. April 25, 2015, accessed April 27, 2015 .
  36. ^ Al-Fateh Army takes control over the whole city of Ariha in Idlib. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, accessed May 28, 2015 .
  37. ↑ SOHR: 7 fighters, including Abu Abdul Rahman Salqeen a leader in Ahrar al-Sham, killed in a Salqeen city: http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/07/7-fighters-including-abu-abdul -rahman-salqeen-a-leader-in-ahrar-al-sham-killed-in-a-salqeen
  38. ↑ millitarytimes: Fighters from the powerful and ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham brigade are also present, he said and confirmed Anadolu's report that the rebels seized the IS-held village of Kaklijeh near Jarablus ( Memento from August 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  39. ↑ BBC.com:Syria conflict: Clashes reported despite truce
  40. ↑ al-monitor.com: Fehim Tastekin: "Turkey might have to do its own dirty work at Idlib" ( Memento from August 4, 2017 in the Internet Archive )