Suqour al-Sham Brigade
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The Suqour al-Sham Brigades ( ar, أَلْوِيَةُ صُقُورِ الشَّامِ, ʾAlwiyat Ṣuqūr aš-Šām, en, Hawks of the Levant Brigades), also known as the Sham Falcons Brigades, is an armed rebel organisation formed by Ahmed Abu Issa early in the Syrian Civil War to fight against the Syrian Government. It was a member of the Islamic Front and a former unit of the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian Islamic Liberation Front. They have a history of coordinating with Ahrar al-Sham and al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front (a group rebranded as
Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) (, transliteration: ', "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant" or "Levant Liberation Committee"), commonly referred to as Tahrir al-Sham, is a Sunni Islamist political and armed organisation involved in the ...
since January 2017), though clashes with the latter broke out in January 2017. In March 2015, the Suqour al-Sham Brigades merged with
Ahrar ash-Sham Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya ( ar-at, حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية, Ḥarakat Aḥrāru š-Šām al-Islāmiyah, lit=Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition ...
, but left Ahrar al-Sham in September 2016. Also, in September 2016, they joined the Army of Conquest which Ahrar al-Sham is also a member. On 25 January 2017, Suqour al-Sham rejoined Ahrar al-Sham, but later became independent.


Ideology

Suqour al-Sham's ideology has been described by Asher Berman of the
Institute for the Study of War The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is a United States–based think tank founded in 2007 by Kimberly Kagan, providing research and analysis regarding issues of defense and foreign affairs. It has produced reports on the Syrian War, the Wa ...
as Islamist but not having a global
jihadist Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...
outlook. In a sermon delivered in a mosque in April 2012, Abu Issa said Muslims had lost their honor because they had abandoned jihad, replacing aspirations for martyrdom with a fear of death. However, in an interview in June 2012 Issa described his vision for a post-
Assad Asad ( ar, أسد), sometimes written as Assad, is an Arabic male given name literally meaning " lion". It is used in nicknames such as ''Asad Allāh'', one of the by-names for Ali ibn Abi Talib. People Among prominent people named ''Asad'', ...
Syria as a moderate Islamic state "without imposing it on society." A publication of the
Counter Terrorism Centre Counter Terrorism Centre (CTC) ( hu, Terrorelhárítási Központ, TEK) is a Hungarian government agency responsible for national and international counter terrorism including detection, prevention and interruption. The agency has a police tac ...
in August 2013 described Suqour al-Sham as belonging to the most stridently Islamist wing of the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian Islamic Liberation Front. After ending relations with those two organisations it joined the Islamic Front in November 2013, a charter released by the new group described their shared beliefs as rejecting
representative democracy Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represe ...
and
secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...
, instead seeking to establish an
Islamic State An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
ruled by a Majlis-ash-Shura and implementing Sharia law.


Activity and tactics

As Suquor al-Sham grew in prominence, rebel units in neighboring regions such as Aleppo and Idlib Governorate declared themselves to be members of Suqour al-Sham. The central leadership sometimes recognized their affiliation, but the amount of coordination with these groups was believed to be low. By June 2013 the group had recognised some 17 sub-brigades. Suqour al-Sham has been known to carry out roadside IED attacks targeting the Syrian Army since its inception. The organization has also carried out attacks on security checkpoints using
VBIED A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...
s that had been secretly rigged with explosives and driven unwittingly by released captives, upon reaching the target they were detonated remotely. The group had not been known to carry out suicide bombings as of mid-July 2012.


History

After three months of protests in 2011, the Syrian government released many high-profile
Salafist The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generati ...
Islamist prisoners from Sednaya Prison such as
Zahran Alloush Zahran Alloush ( ar, زَهْرَانُ عَلُّوشٍ, Zahrān ʿAlūš, 1971 – 25 December 2015) was a Syrian Islamist leader active in the Syrian Civil War. He was the commander of Jaysh al-Islam (or Army of Islam), a major component of the ...
, Hassan Aboud and Ahmed Abu Issa. The Suqour al-Sham Battalion was formed in September 2011 under the leadership of Ahmed Abu Issa in the town of Sarjeh in the Jabal al-Zawiya region of Idlib Governorate. The group's fighters are a mix of military defectors and civilian volunteers. According to its website, the brigade has a civilian and a military wing. The civilian wing is run by a shura council headed by Ahmed Abu Issa, this wing is responsible for acquiring military supplies, food, and media operations. The military wing is independent, but acts on the advice of the civilian leadership. Suquor al-Sham initially identified itself as part of the Free Syrian Army and recognized the Syrian National Council as the "chief representative of the revolution abroad;" however, the group does not view the SNC as an organization that can legitimately issue orders. In September 2013, Suqour al-Sham was one of a number of rebel groups that issued a communique stating that the SNC was not representative of them and that they were abandoning it. This was followed in December 2013 by a statement from Suqour al-Sham's leader, announcing that they were no longer part of the Free Syrian Army. In September 2012, a large number of Islamist rebel brigades, including the
Farouq Brigades The Farouq Brigades ( ar, كتائب الفاروق), also spelt Farooq and Farook, was an armed rebel organisation formed by a number of Homs based members of the Free Syrian Army early in the Syrian Civil War. The group rapidly expanded in siz ...
and the Suquor al-Sham formed the Syrian Islamic Liberation Front, under the leadership of Suquor al-Sham commander Ahmed Abu Issa. Abu Issa claimed the new Front had more than 40,000 fighters and aimed to establish a state with an ''Islamic reference''. This alliance was superseded in November 2013 by a new alliance called the Islamic Front, again led by Abu Issa. By early 2014, Suqour al-Sham had reportedly been substantially weakened following the outbreak of open warfare between many Syrian rebel factions and the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
. On 21 January 2014, Suqour al-Sham's top religious official, Abu Abderrahman al-Sarmini, defected from the group, in protest of the internecine warfare. In February 2014, the group's top military commander, Mohammed al-Dik (alias Abu Hussein), was killed in an ISIL attack. In the same month, Suqour al-Sham's chief of staff and one of its most powerful founding factions, the Suyouf al-Haq Brigade, announced an unapproved separate peace with ISIL and defected from the group. Suyouf al-Haq joined with
Liwa Dawud Liwa Dawud (Arabic:لواء داوود, liwa' dawud, The David Brigade) was an armed group in the Syrian Civil War headquartered in Samrin in the Idlib Governorate and originated as a subunit in Suqour al-Sham then later became an independent fa ...
, a powerful Suqour al-Sham faction that had defected in 2013, to form a new group called Jaysh al-Sham, or the Army of the Levant. In May 2014, the group conducted joint suicide attacks with the al-Nusra Front that involved American foreign fighter, Moner Mohammad Abu Salha who took part in one of the series of suicide bombings himself against Syrian government forces in Ariha. In September 2016, after more than a year of being absorbed by Ahrar al-Sham, the Suqour al-Sham Brigades left Ahrar al-Sham while continuing to use the Islamic Front logo. Also, in September 2016, they joined the Army of Conquest, of which Ahrar al-Sham is also a member. On 25 January 2017, Suqour al-Sham rejoined Ahrar al-Sham amid clashes with the al-Nusra Front. By 2018 the group left Ahrar al-Sham again. On 1 August 2018, it joined the National Front for Liberation, with Suqour al-Sham commander Ahmad Sarhan ("Abu Satif") named as the NFL's first deputy commander. On 6 August 2019, al-Masdar which has been described as a pro-Syrian government news site, claimed that the Russian military carried out an ambush resulting in the death of 14 fighters from the group in the northern part of the Hama Governorate during a Syrian government offensive in the area. According to a Syrian opposition source and an activist in Afrin, the Suqour al-Sham Brigades were among the Turkish-backed insurgent groups which volunteered to send fighters to Libya as part of a Turkish-led operation to aid the Tripoli-based
Government of National Accord The Government of National Accord ( ar, حكومة الوفاق الوطني) was an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, a United Nations–led initiative, signed on 17 December 2015. ...
in December 2019.


War crimes

The UN Commission of Inquiry for Syria reported that the group unlawfully detained Hekmat Khalil al-De’ar for alleged dealings with the Syrian Democratic Forces. His dead body returned to his family the next day. The autopsy showed that he had been subjected to torture.


See also

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List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War A number of states and armed groups have involved themselves in the ongoing Syrian Civil War as belligerents. Syrian Arab Republic and allies A number of sources have emphasized that as of at least late-2015/early-2016 the Syrian Arab Republic ...


References

{{Sister project links , commons=Syrian Civil War (2011-present) , n=2011 Syria anti-government protests , wikt=no , b=no , q=no , s=no , v=no , species=no , display=the Syrian civil war Anti-government factions of the Syrian civil war Anti-ISIL factions in Syria Sunni Islamist groups Military units and formations established in 2011 Turkish supported militant groups of the Syrian civil war