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Kata'ib Ahrar Al-Sham Ahrar Al-Sham Brigades
كتائب أحرار الشام
Flags used by the Group
Founders	Hassan Aboud Abu Khalid al-Suri
Leader	Hassan Aboud, nom de guerre Abu Abdullah al-Hamawi † (leader, 2011–2014)
Foundation	Late 2011
Dates of operation	Late 2011- Early 2013
Country	Syria
Active regions	Idlib Governorate Khan Shaykhun Maarat al-Nu'man Darat Izza Aleppo Governorate Aleppo City Hama Governorate Hama City Raqqa Governorate Raqqa City Homs Governorate
Ideology	Sunni Islamism Salafism Salafi jihadism (Popular until 2014)
Part of	Syrian Islamic Front (2012–2013)
Allies	Saudi Arabia Qatar Turkey Free Syrian Army Jaysh al-Islam Alwiya al-Furqan Al-Nusra Front Liwa Dawud Descendants of the Prophet Brigade Harakat Fajr ash-Sham al-Islamiya Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement Authenticity and Development Front Jabhat Ansar Ash-Sham Other Salafist Battalions
Opponents	Ba'athist Syria Shabiha Iran Hezbollah
Battles and wars	Syrian Civil War Idlib Governorate clashes (September 2011 – March 2012) Rif Dimashq clashes (November 2011–March 2012) Battle of Taftanaz First Battle of Idlib (2012) Idlib Governorate clashes (June 2012 – April 2013) Rif Dimashq offensive (November 2012–February 2013) Battle of Aleppo Battle of Damascus (2012) Raqqa campaign (2012–2013)
Website	www.ahraralsham.com
Succeeded by Ahrar al-Sham

Kata'ib Ahrar al-Sham (Arabic: كتائب أحرار الشام, romanized: Aḥrār aš-Šām Brigades, lit. 'Freemen of the Levant Brigades') was a Islamist Salafi jihadist brigade that coalesced into a single unit by 2013 in order to fight against the Government of Syria led by Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian Civil War.Kata'ib Ahrar al-Sham was led by Hassan Aboud until his death in 2014

History

Ahrar al-Sham started forming units just after the Egyptian revolution of 2011.of January 2011, and before the civil uprising phase of the Syrian Civil War Which started in March 2011. Most of the group's founders were Salafist political prisoners who had been detained for years at the Sednaya prison .until they were released as part of an amnesty by the Syrian Government in March–May 2011. At the time of its establishment in December 2011.

Ahrar al-Sham consisted of about 25 rebel units spread across Syria. On 23 January 2012, the Ahrar al-Sham Battalions was officially announced in the Idlib Governorate. In the same announcement, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on the security headquarters in the city of Idlib. "To all the free people of Syria, we announce the formation of the Free Ones of the Levant Battalions," the statement said, according to a translation obtained by the Long War Journal. "We promise God, and then we promise you, that we will be a firm shield and a striking hand to repel the attacks of this criminal Al Assad army with all the might we can muster. We promise to protect the lives of civilians and their possessions from security and the Shabiha pro-government militia. We are a people who will either gain victory or die.".

By July 2012, the group's website listed 50 units, and by mid-January 2013, the number had increased to 83 units. Most of these units are headquartered in villages in Idlib Governorate, but many others are located in Hama Governorate and Aleppo Governorates. Some Ahrar al-Sham units that have been involved in heavy fighting include the Qawafel al-Shuhada and Ansar al-Haqq Brigades (both in Khan Shaykhun), the al-Tawhid wal-Iman Brigade (Maarat al-Nu'man, Idlib), the Shahba Brigade (Aleppo City), the Hassane bin Thabet Brigade (Darat Izza, Aleppo), and the Salahaddin and Abul-Fida Brigades (both in Hama City).

Members of the group are Sunni Islamists. Ahrar al-Sham cooperates with the Free Syrian Army; however, it does not maintain ties with the Syrian National Council... Although they coordinate with other groups, they maintain their own strict and secretive leadership, receiving the majority of their funding and support from donors in Kuwait.

Ahrar al-Sham was credited for rescuing NBC News team including reporter Richard Engel, producer Ghazi Balkiz, cameraman John Kooistra and others after they were kidnapped in December 2012. While Engel initially blamed pro-Assad Shabiha militants for the abduction, it later turned out that they were "almost certainly" abducted by an FSA affiliated rebel group. There were around 500 people in Ahrar al-Sham in August 2012.

Kata'ib Ahrar al-Sham Photos

Battle of Taftanaz

battle of Morek

Aleppo Research Center

Liberation of Kokba checkpoint

References

1. ^ Lund, Aron (5 October 2012). "Holy Warriors". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
2. "The crowning of the Syrian Islamic Front". Foreign Policy. 24 June 2013. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
3. "Suicide bombing kills head of Syrian rebel group". The Daily Star. 9 September 2014. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
4. "Competition among Islamists". The Economist. 20 July 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
5. Cite error: The named reference ceipAhrar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
6. ^ "TIME Exclusive: Meet the Islamist Militants Fighting Alongside Syria's Rebels". Time. 26 July 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stanford Militant Organizations Ahrar al-Sham was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
8. Ali El Yassir (23 August 2016). "The Ahrar al Sham Movement: Syria's Local Salafists". Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The movement unambiguously espoused a Salafi and Jihadi discourse when it was created, but it has also sought to differentiate itself from al Qaeda and ISIS's Salafi-Jihadism. The group continued to describe itself as independent and stated that it was not an extension of any organization, party or group. Unlike al Qaeda and ISIS, Ahrar al Sham consistently stated its fight was limited to Syria.
9. "Syrian Ahrar Al-Sham rebel group faces major internal mutiny". The New Arab. 13 October 2020. Ahrar Al-Sham started as a Syrian Salafi jihadist group in late 2011, but shifted towards a somewhat more moderate rebel position after 2017.
10. O'Bagy 2012, pp. 6, 27. sfn error: no target: CITEREFO'Bagy2012 (help)
11. Heller, Sam (30 September 2015). "Ahrar al-Sham's Revisionist Jihadism". War on the Rocks. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
12. "The Syrian Islamic Front: A New Extremist Force". Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 4 February 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
13. Aron Lund (24 September 2013). "New Islamist Bloc Declares Opposition to National Coalition and US Strategy". Syria Comment. Archived from the original on 20 November 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
14. "Syrian rebels call for regional alliance against Russia and Iran". Reuters.
15. "The Name "United States of America"<xref ref-type="fn" rid="fn1">¹</xref>". The American Historical Review. October 1925. doi:10.1086/ahr/31.1.79. ISSN 1937-5239.
16. Blanford, Nicholas (10 October 2013). "Jihadis may want to kill Assad. But is he lucky to have them?". csmonitor.com. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
17. Bar, Herve (13 February 2013). "Ahrar al-Sham jihadists emerge from shadows in north Syria". The Daily Star. Beirut. AFP. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
18. Bill Roggio (26 February 2012). "Al Nusrah Front claims suicide attack in Syria". The Long War Journal. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
19. Lund, Aron (March 2013). "Syria's salafi insurgents: The rise of the Syrian Islamic Front" (PDF). Swedish Institute of International Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
20. Spencer, Richard (16 August 2012). "British convert to Islam vows to fight to the death on Syrian rebel front line". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
21. Cite error: The named reference icg was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
22. Abouzeid, Rania (18 September 2012). "Syrian Anti-Assad Rebel Groups Funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar". Time. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
23. "Going Rogue: Bandits and Criminal Gangs Threaten Syria's Rebellion". Time. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
24. Ravi Somaiya; C. J. Chivers; Karam Shoumali (15 April 2015). "NBC News Alters Account of Correspondent's Kidnapping in Syria". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
25. Spencer, Richard (16 August 2012). "British convert to Islam vows to fight to the death on Syrian rebel front line". Telegraph. Retrieved 29 March 2016.

External links

• Official website

• Anti-government factions of the Syrian civil war
• Salafi Islamism
• Salafi Islamist groups
• 2011 establishments in Syria
• Military units and formations established in 2011
• Organisations designated as terrorist by Iran
• Organizations designated as terrorist by Egypt
• Organizations designated as terrorist by Russia
• Organizations designated as terrorist by Syria
• Organizations designated as terrorist by the United Arab Emirates
• Jihadist groups in Syria
• Organizations based in Asia designated as terrorist
• Turkish supported militant groups of the Syrian civil war