The 5th Corps () was an alliance of five Syrian rebel groups that was formed during the Syrian Civil War in September 2014. All five units were affiliated with the

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...

and the Supreme Military Council, used the Syrian independence flag as their symbol, and received

BGM-71 TOW The BGM-71 TOW ("Tube-launched, Optically tracked, wire-guided missile, Wire-guided", pronounced ) is an American anti-tank missile. TOW replaced much smaller missiles like the SS.10 and ENTAC, offering roughly twice the effective range, a more ...

anti-tank missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a missile guidance, guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy armoured fighting vehicle, heavily armored military v ...

s from the US-backed

Friends of Syria Group The Group of Friends of the Syrian People (sometimes Friends of Syria Group, Friends of the Syrian People Group, Friends of Democratic Syria or simply Friends of Syria) is an international diplomatic collective of countries and bodies convening p ...

through the Military Operations Center in

Reyhanlı Reyhanlı (; , ''ar-Rayḥānīyah'') is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Hatay Province, Turkey. Its area is 367 km2, and its population is 108,092 (2022). It is near the country's Syria–Turkey border, border with Syria ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, near the

Syrian border Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

Composition and leadership

* 13th Division * Knights of Justice Brigade * Hawks of Mount Zawiya Brigade * 101st Infantry Division * 1st Infantry Brigade The 5th Corps was headed by Lieutenant Colonel

Fares Bayoush Fares Bayoush (, born 1970) is a former lieutenant colonel in the Syrian Arab Air Force who defected to the Free Syrian Army in 2012. Military activities in the Syrian Air Force In 1990, Fares Bayoush joined a Syrian Air Force technical institu ...

, who was also the leader of the Knights of Justice Brigade.

Activities

Despite being supported by the US, the 5th Corps condemned the

American-led intervention in Syria {{Infobox military conflict , width = 440px , conflict = US intervention in the Syrian civil war , partof = Operation Inherent Resolve, the war against the Islamic State, and the foreign involvement in the S ...

against

ISIL The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signif ...

and the

al-Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra or Jabhat Nusrat Ahl al-Sham, also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant, and also later known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham was a Salafi-jihadist organization that fought against Ba'athist Syria, Ba'athist ...

. The group held that the

Syrian Interim Government The Syrian Interim Government (Arabic: الحكومة السورية المؤقتة; ''Ḥukūmat as-Sūriyya al-Muwaqqata'') was a government-in-exile and later a quasi-state in Syria formed on 18 March 2013 by the National Coalition of Syria ...

was responsible for the accidental injection of

atracurium besilate Atracurium besilate, also known as atracurium besylate, is a medication used in addition to other medications to provide skeletal muscle relaxation during surgery or mechanical ventilation. It can also be used to help with endotracheal intubat ...

into 75 children during a

measles vaccination Measles vaccine protects against becoming infected with measles. Nearly all of those who do not develop immunity after a single dose develop it after a second dose. When the rate of vaccination within a population is greater than 92%, outbreaks ...

campaign in the countryside of Maarat al-Nu'man on 16 September 2014, killing 15 of them, all between 6 and 18 months old.

Aftermath

On 20 November 2014, the groups that constituted the 5th Corps, with the exception of the Mountain Hawks Brigade and the 101st Infantry Division, joined a new, more Islamist-oriented, rebel alliance called the "Gathering of Rebels in Southern Idlib" based in Maarat al-Nu'man, rendering the 5th Corps defunct.

References

External links

5th Corps YouTube Channel
{{Syrian Civil War 2014 establishments in Syria Anti-Assad factions of the Syrian civil war Free Syrian Army Military units and formations established in 2014

Composition and leadership

Activities

Aftermath

See also

References

External links