Free Syrian Army
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 Free Syrian Army Armée syrienne libre الجيش السوري الحر |
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| Lineup | July 29, 2011 |
| Country | Syria |
| Subordinate troops | |
| Strength | approx. 40,000–50,000 ( Dec. 2013 ) |
| Insinuation |
 National coalition of Syria Syrian National Council
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| Nickname | FSA |
| Colours | Black, red, white and green |
| Butcher |
civil war in Syria
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| commander | |
| Brigadier General | Abdelilah Bashir ( Chief of Staff , February 16, 2014 - present) |
| Brigadier General | Selim Idriss ( Chief of Staff , December 2012 to February 16, 2014) |
| Colonel | Riad al-Asaad (Commander in Chief, Sept. 2011 - present symbolic role since December 2012 ) |
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The Free Syrian Army ( Arabic الجيش السوري الحر, DMG al-Ǧaiš as-Sūrī al-Ḥurr , French Armée syrienne libre , abbreviation FSA ) is the armed arm of the group " National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces ", which has existed since 2012 due to the Syrian civil war . Originally, it was particularly supported by part of the Sunni majority of the population in Syria , but became increasingly less important in the course of the conflict.
The irregulars originally stated the protection of civilians and the overthrow of the Syrian Baath regime under Bashar al-Assad as their goal . To achieve their goals, they also attack the government's state security forces. A forerunner of the army was the Free Officers Movement (حركة الضباط الأحرار, DMG Ḥarakat aḍ-Ḍubbāṭ al-Aḥrār ). The FSA's motto isجيش حر ، سوريا حرة / Ǧaiš ḥurr, Sūriyā ḥurra / 'Free Army, Free Syria', their identification colors are green, red, white and black.
Foundation and goals
The formation of the armed opposition group was announced on July 29, 2011 in a web video released by a group of deserters from the Syrian military. It also called on members of the Syrian army to desert and join the FSA. The leader of the men, Riad al-Asaad , who calls himself a colonel, announced that the FSA was working with protesters in Syria in 2011 to overthrow the system, declaring that all security forces attacking civilians are legitimate targets the FSA are.
Riyad al-Asaad stressed that the Free Syrian Army had no other political goals than the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad . The Free Syrian Army claimed that the conflict in Syria was not religious and that they are also in their ranks Alawites have who oppose the government. There will be no retaliation when the goal is achieved.
composition
The Free Syrian Army initially allegedly consisted of defected personnel from the Syrian armed forces . In addition, there were a large number of civilians who fought against the Syrian government to defend their hometowns. As a third group, there were also foreign fighters, especially from Lebanon and Libya , but also from other Arab countries, who joined the FSA for different reasons. Parts of the FSA were also linked to the Syrian National Council through Selim Idriss' “Supreme Military Council” .
On September 23, 2011, the Free Syrian Army merged with the Free Officers Movement and became the largest opposition army. The exact number of soldiers who defected to the Free Syrian Army is unknown. Western intelligence sources estimated the number of fighters in October 2011 at more than 10,000 defectors. According to its leader, Riad Asaad, in November 2011, the Free Syrian Army gained "100 to 300 more members" every time it carried out an attack. According to the activists, in December 2011 there were around 15,000 to 25,000 defectors from the Syrian armed forces, and in March 2012 the Free Syrian Army said it commanded 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers.
90% of the FSA fighters were Sunni Muslims , small minorities in the army were Alawis and some Druze . More than 15% of the FSA units are Kurds . There were also Palestinian rebel commanders in the Yarmuk refugee camp in southern Damascus . However, at no point in time could any of this information be independently verified.
Ascent
With the large-scale strategic approach, it now seemed as if the Alawite coastal region could first be separated from the interior of the country. The line on which this was to be done ran along the cities of Kusseir , Homs , Hama and Idlib . This “Greater Lebanon” should then serve as a deployment area for further fighting , comparable to Benghazi's role in Libya in 2011 . While the FSA was very strong in these regions for a long time, especially in Homs, in the course of 2012 the area of activity of the FSA shifted increasingly northwards to the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, while it was temporarily pushed back in Homs and the surrounding area. The FSA controlled several border posts there into Turkey and was thus able to supply itself logistically from there. Except for a few military bases, this area had almost completely slipped out of the control of the Syrian government. Despite the massive presence of the security forces, the area around Damascus was also the area of operations of the FSA, as the fighting over the city of Zabadani in winter 2011/2012 showed. The entire part of the country east of the provincial capital Raqqa was no longer under the control of the Syrian government , with the exception of a few military bases near Deir ez-Zor . While the FSA ruled the cities along the Euphrates and adjacent desert areas, armed Kurdish militias had taken power in the northwest.
Developments from 2013
In July, the organization previously known as "al-Qaeda in Iraq" under the name of Islamic State in Iraq and in shame (that is to say " Greater Syria ", or ISIS for short) killed FSA commander Kamal Hamami at a roadblock in front of Latakia. This revealed an open break with the other organization fighting against the Ba'ath regime.
In December 2013, the Free Syrian Army is said to have initially comprised around 40,000–50,000 armed fighters. According to the Bundeswehr Inspector General Volker Wieker , the Free Syrian Army was in full dissolution as a task force in early autumn 2013 and had lost its leadership role in the fight against the government to jihadist rebels such as the al-Nusra Front . However, during the struggle for Kobanê she came back into conversation as an ally of the Kurdish people's defense units against the terrorist organization Islamic State .
Under the leadership of Chief of Staff Selim Idriss , the Free Syrian Army suffered serious setbacks. The government troops in the Homs and Damascus regions were able to make up ground. Idriss was therefore released from his duties in February 2014 and replaced by the combat-experienced commander Abdelilah Bashir . Up until then, he was responsible for the fighting in the area bordering the Israeli- occupied Golan Heights . On February 17, 2014, Idriss was replaced by the military council due to a lack of military success. According to unconfirmed reports, he fled Syria in December 2013 following an attack by Islamist rebels on the FSA headquarters at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing . In summary, the FSA lost a large part of its controlled area in the east to IS in 2013 (see map). In early May 2014, Homs was finally taken by government troops.
After severe setbacks in 2013 and 2014, the FSA started talking in early 2015 through its support for the Kurdish People's Defense Units in the Battle of Kobanê on the Syrian-Turkish border. Since then, the FSA has regained ground in the south of the country. On March 25, 2015, they conquered the city of Bosra , which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Furthermore, the FSA has been working more effectively with other rebels since 2015, for example taking part in the conquest of the strategically important city of Jisr al-Shughur , which was led by an alliance of Islamist rebels called Jaish al-Fatah .
Decline
In 2016, observers spoke of the Free Syrian Army only as a “ brand name ” under which various groups appeared to oppose the YPG, which is supported by the international coalition with air strikes, and against IS in northern Syria from the end of August under Turkish patronage to fight.
On April 7, 2016, rebel groups under the banner of the Free Syrian Army conquered the city of ar-Raʿi and the border crossing, which was considered an important IS base in the north of Aleppo Governorate . According to observers, some FSA rebels were armed with Turkish weapons and were supported by Turkish artillery.
In August, Turkey brought together several rebel groups that had previously fought in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo . In the Turkish military offensive in northern Syria at the end of August 2016, coming from Turkey and accompanied by Turkish tanks, they crossed the border and occupied Jarabulus , which IS had previously given up. A short time later, however, they got caught up in fighting with SDF units south of the town . The rebel groups included fighters from the Levant Front , Sultan Murad Brigade , Ahrar al-Sham and the Sham Legion, which appeared during this offensive under the self-name "Free Syrian Army".
After Islamist fighters among the government opponents , united as Hai'at Tahrir asch-Scham , after the lost battle for Aleppo, began to systematically eliminate other opposition groups in the Idlib province that remained to the insurgents at the beginning of 2017, commanders of rebel groups shared what had previously been under the banner the "FSA" had fought in the region in February that representatives of the USA, Saudi Arabia and Turkey had told them that they would not be supported for the time being. The donor countries had apparently decided to prevent the weapons and ammunition supplied from falling into the hands of the terrorist groups, as happened before. With the loss of Idlib, moderate forces held only limited areas in southern Syria and small enclaves near Aleppo and Damascus at the end of February 2017. Only the groups that fought as the “Free Syrian Army” under Turkish command in Operation Euphrates Shield against the terrorist group IS achieved significant successes .
2018
In January 2018, the Turkish military offensive on Afrin began , in which the Turkish army moved into the Syrian-Kurdish region around Afrin to fight Kurdish YPG militias . She was officially accompanied by around 25,000 FSA fighters, according to observers it is only around 5,000 to 7,000. Turkmens are said to represent the bulk of the fighters in the FSA associations set up by Turkey. Parts of the FSA troops were shown on videos as they marched into Syria with new headgear reminiscent of the helmets that soldiers of the Ottoman Empire wore around the time of the First World War .
Other parts of the Turkish FSA in Operation Afrin are fighters who were previously part of the terrorist organization Islamic State, according to a report in The Independent newspaper . They had been recruited for the operation by the Turkish authorities, but had been instructed not to use their suicide attack tactics, apparently to cover up their participation in the fighting from the international community.
In March 2018, The Region reported that the women and children of a killed FSA supporter in Turkey would be granted Turkish citizenship, as well as an apartment and 30,000 lira. A war-disabled FSA fighter would receive Turkish citizenship and 15,000 lira.
After the occupation of Afrin in March 2018, a Guardian journalist praised the Turkish FSA for quickly defeating a US-equipped force and called the Turkish FSA an emerging rebel army in northern Syria. The analysis platform Stratfor attributed the Turkish victory to the numerical superiority of the troops loyal to Turkey and the technical superiority of the Turkish army with its artillery, air force and special units against the YPG, which itself consisted almost entirely of light infantry. The attack on Turkey and its allies from various directions was also advantageous. The Turkish FSA itself had improved tactics and leadership, but fighting strength and discipline still left a lot to be desired. David Ignatius argued similarly , horrified by the pictures after the occupation of Afrin, he wrote that it was impossible to tell whether the NATO partner had actually occupied Turkey or perhaps the terrorist group Islamic State had occupied Afrin. Ignatius concluded that the Turks did not have disciplined soldiers who could maintain order after a possible occupation of Manbij.
2019
In October 2019, the Turks again relied on the Syrian Islamist groups and sent them in front of their own troops against the Kurds during the Turkish military offensive in northern Syria . In the wake of the American withdrawal movements from northern Syria, their troops occasionally came close to the FSA. US officials complained about their poor discipline, as they had repeatedly fired at the US troops - be it accidentally or on purpose.
International support
The Libyan National Transitional Council announced in November 2011 that it was in talks with the Syrian National Council and that it would consider sending weapons and volunteer fighters from the National Liberation Army to the Free Syrian Army. According to representatives of the Transitional Council, the Libyans are offering money, weapons and training for those who are loyal to the Syrian National Council. According to Libyan sources, at least 600 fighters from the Libyan National Liberation Army were sent from Libya to Syria on November 29 to support the Free Syrian Army. They invaded Syria from Turkey .
Since May 2012 at the latest, fighters from the Free Syrian Army and other units of the Syrian opposition are said to have been trained by the Turkish secret service in Turkey and, from summer 2013, by the US secret service CIA in Jordan . The American documentary filmmaker Matthew VanDyke , who previously fought in the Libyan Civil War, released the film Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution in 2013 , which aims to promote international support for the FSA.
The German federal government supported the FSA and other groups with 2.8 million euros (2014) and 1.4 million euros (2015).
criticism
Human rights violations
In August 2012, the FSA passed a code of conduct that obliges its members to respect human rights and international law in the fight against the Syrian government and to adhere to the Geneva Convention . Nevertheless, individual FSA units are accused of assaulting Christians. According to the Fides Service of the Roman Catholic Church , the Syrian Orthodox Church laments " ethnic cleansing against Christians" in Homs by the Faruq Brigade .
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch accuses the FSA, as well as the regular Syrian army and pro-government militias, of human rights violations. HRW criticizes that the FSA accepts minors as child soldiers .
Corruption allegations
FSA members are alleged to be involved in organ trafficking , according to reports in the Turkish daily Yurt Gazetesi . FSA units have been repeatedly accused of corruption by Syrian civilians . In Aleppo, FSA units were accused of illegally selling flour and thus responsible for the shortage of bread . As a result, the al-Nusra front took control of bakeries and bread distribution in Aleppo.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Top Western-Backed Rebel in Syria Is Forced to Flee In: The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 14, 2013
- ↑ a b c Kurdish fighters and Free Syrian Army clash with IS at strategic border town. In: Reuters , September 27, 2014 (English).
- ↑ a b c Free Syrian Army reports successes in the battle for Kobani. In: Die Zeit , October 19, 2014.
- ↑ a b c Syrian FSA rebels reach Kobane. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 29, 2014.
- ↑ FSA take control of ancient city Bosra in southern Syria - http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/fsa-take-control-ancient-city-southern-syria-1075763421
- ↑ World: Rebels conquer world cultural heritage in Bosra - https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article138762312/Rebellen-erobern-Weltkulturerbe-in-Bosra.html
- ↑ Syrian aircraft bomb area near captured Jordan crossing. In: Reuters. Retrieved April 5, 2015 .
- ^ ISIS storms Damascus suburb of Yarmouk. In: The Daily Star Lebanon. Retrieved April 6, 2015 .
- ↑ Thomas Joscelyn: Al Qaeda, jihadist allies declare victory over Syrian regime in key city. The Long War Journal, April 25, 2011, accessed April 25, 2015 : "In addition to Al Nusrah and al Qaeda-linked jihadist groups, fighters associated with the Free Syrian Army also took part in the battle."
- ↑ a b Syrian Rebellion Obs on Twitter. In: Twitter. Retrieved April 25, 2015 .
- ↑ German Turkish journal "FSA and Islamitisches Bündnis take Jisr asch-Shughur"
- ^ Free Syrian Army fires military chief. Al Jazeera English, February 18, 2014, accessed September 16, 2014 .
- ↑ a b Bassem Mroue, Suzan Fraser: Syria Rebels Create New Unified Military Command. Associated Press, December 8, 2012; archived from the original on December 10, 2012 ; Retrieved December 8, 2012 .
- ↑ Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Jason Webb: Syrian rebels elect head of new military command. Thomson Reuters , December 8, 2012, accessed December 8, 2012 .
- ↑ Tim Arango: Syria's Sectarian Fears Keep Region on Edge in the New York Times on February 28, 2012.
- ↑ a b Liz Sly and Zakaria Zakaria: "'Al-Qaeda is eating us': Syrian rebels are losing out to extremists" , Washington Post of February 23, 2017
- ↑ Ulrike Putz: In the wadi of the fog fighters. In: Spiegel Online , December 27, 2011.
- ↑ Joshua Landis: Free Syrian Army Founded by Seven Officers to Fight the Syrian Army. Syria Comment, June 29, 2011, accessed August 7, 2011 .
- ↑ defecting troops form 'Free Syrian Army', target Assad securityforces. World Tribune, August 3, 2011; Archived from the original on November 27, 2011 ; Retrieved August 7, 2011 .
- ^ Syrian Army Colonel Defects forms Free Syrian Army. Asharq Alawsat, August 1, 2011, archived from the original September 29, 2011 ; Retrieved August 7, 2011 .
- ↑ Commander of Free Syrian Army: Al Asad to face Gaddafi's fate. Trend, October 10, 2011, accessed October 22, 2011 .
- ↑ Thair Abbas: Asharq Al-Awsat visits the Free Syrian Army. Asharq al-Awsat, September 10, 2011, archived from the original on April 25, 2012 ; Retrieved October 22, 2011 .
- ^ A b c Salam Hafez: Syrian Opposition Call for No-Fly Zone. The Journal of Turkish Weekly October 8, 2011, archived from the original November 1, 2011 ; Retrieved October 8, 2011 .
- ^ A b c Ayla Albayrak: Turkey Plans Military Exercise on Syrian Border. Wall Street Journal, October 4, 2011, accessed October 4, 2011 .
- ^ Syrian opposition to co-ordinate with Free Syrian Army. In: BBC News. December 1, 2011, accessed January 20, 2013 .
- ^ Johnathon Burch: War is only option to topple Syrian leader. Reuters, October 7, 2011, accessed October 7, 2011 .
- ^ Nada Bakri: Defectors Claim Attack That Killed Syrian Soldiers. The New York Times, October 26, 2011, accessed January 20, 2013 .
- ↑ www.businessweek.com
- ^ Salem Hafez: Syria: How Far Has Uprising Spread? Institute for War and Peace Reporting, accessed October 27, 2011 .
- ↑ Thomas Seibert: Syria's refugees want weapons. In: The time . March 21, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2012 .
- ^ "Syria's Druze minority is shifting its support to the opposition" . The Washington Post , February 8, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ↑ "Druze preachers in Swaida urge defections" . The Daily Star (Lebanon) , February 18, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ "Syrian rebels arm Palestinians against Assad" . Reuters , October 31, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ↑ Joseph Holliday, The Struggle For Syria In 2011 - an operational and regional analysis ( Memento September 7, 2014 on WebCite ) (English; PDF), The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Middle East Security Report 2, Washington , DC, December 2011, 28 p., Here p. 11, Map 2, archived from the original on September 7, 2014.
- ↑ Karin Leukefeld: ai spares Assad opponents in Junge Welt on May 25, 2012.
- ↑ www.reuters.com
- ↑ www.understandingwar.org (Eng.)
- ↑ Jürg Bischoff: Power struggles in "liberated" Syria. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , July 13, 2013.
- ↑ Focus: Commanders have been urging Assad to use poison gas for months , September 8, 2013, accessed on September 8, 2013
- ↑ de.reuters.com
- ↑ Khaled Yacoub Oweis: "Free Syrian Army sacks chief, appoints replacement" Reuters of February 16, 2014, viewed on February 16, 2014
- ↑ The Fall of Homs. In: Spiegel Online , May 3, 2014.
- ↑ FSA take control of ancient city Bosra in southern Syria (engl.)
- ↑ World: Rebels conquer world cultural heritage in Bosra - https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article138762312/Rebellen-erobern-Weltkulturerbe-in-Bosra.html
- ↑ Eaworldview.com:Syria Daily, May 10: Rebels Try to Break Regime's Last Stand at Hospital in Jisr al-Shughour - http://eaworldview.com/2015/05/syria-daily-rebels-breaking-regimes-last- stand-at-hospital-in-jisr-al-shughour /
- ↑ Tim Arango, Anne Barnard and Ceylan Yeginsu: "Turkey's Military Plunges Into Syria, Enabling Rebels to Capture ISIS Stronghold" , New York Times, August 24, 2016
- ↑ NZZ: Syria conflict rebels conquer former IS stronghold
- ^ Anne Barnard: “Knowing the Risks, Some Syrian Rebels Seek a Lift From Turks' Incursion” New York, August 29, 2016
- ^ Benjamin Barthe: "L'Armée syrienne libre, de la lutte contre Assad à la milice proturque" Le Monde of January 30, 2018
- ↑ Turkey accused of recruiting ex-Isis fighters to attack Kurds in Syria . In: The Independent . February 7, 2018 ( independent.co.uk [accessed February 27, 2018]).
- ↑ "Turkey accused of recruiting ex-Isis fighters In Their Thousands to attack Kurds in Syria" The Independent.co.uk from February 8, 2018
- ^ Turkey to offer citizenship to the families of killed FSA fighters currently attacking Afrin. In: theregion.org. Retrieved March 13, 2018 .
- ^ "Syrian rebel victory in Afrin reveals strength of Turkish-backed force" The Guardian of March 22, 2018
- ^ "Turkey After Afrin" of March 14, 2018
- ↑ David Ignatius: "The Turks have taken Afrin. Let's not let Manbij fall next." ( Memento of March 22, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Washington Post of March 18, 2018 [1]
- ↑ Jürgen Gottschlich: "Turkey's Air and Ground Offensive Dozens of Dead in Syria Invasion" TAZ of October 10, 2019
- ^ "Assad Forces Surge Forward in Syria as US Pulls Back" New York Times of October 14, 2019
- ↑ Syrian dissidents to get arms, volunteers from Libya. al Arabiya, November 26, 2011, accessed November 27, 2011 .
- ↑ m.albawaba.com
- ↑ Michael Weiss: Syrian rebels say Turkey is arming and training them , The Telegraph, May 22, 2012.
- ↑ CIA trains Syria's rebels to fight arms , Focus.de, June 22, 2013.
- ^ Money for the Syrian opposition . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . December 11, 2015.
- ^ The Guardian : FSA Code of Conduct , accessed November 20, 2012.
- ↑ National Public Radio : Rebels Defensive, In Syria And On World Stage , accessed November 20, 2012.
- ↑ Amnesty International: All sides must protect captured or detained individuals in their custody ( Memento of December 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 20, 2012.
- ↑ ASIA / SYRIA - Observers complain about human rights abuses by the opposition in Homs while Jesuits are providing humanitarian aid. Fides Agenzia, March 21, 2012, archived from the original on September 15, 2012 ; Retrieved April 7, 2012 .
- ↑ Amnesty: Report on the regime’s attacks on civilians , accessed November 20, 2012.
- ^ In Cold Blood: Summary Executions by Syrian Security Forces and Pro-Government Militias , accessed November 19, 2012.
- ^ Syria: Opposition Using Children in Conflict Report by Human Rights Watch November 29, 2012.
- ↑ Ömer Ödemiş: Muhalifler asker cesedini bile satıyor In: Yurt Gazetesi , Istanbul, October 9, 2012.
- ↑ Hans Springstein: As in Kosovo so in Syria? In: Friday , May 7, 2013.
- ↑ Free Syrian Army losing support as misery soars among the people In: The National. Retrieved May 9, 2013
- ^ Syria: how jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra is taking over Syria's revolution In: The Telegraph. Retrieved April 15, 2013