Euphrates Volcano ( ar-at, بركان الفرات, Burkān al-Furāt) was a joint
operations room/coalition established during the
Syrian Civil War. It mainly consisted of the Syrian Kurdish
People's Protection Units (YPG) and certain factions of the
Free Syrian Army
The Free Syrian Army (FSA) ( ar, الجيش السوري الحر, al-jaysh as-Sūrī al-ḥur) is a loose faction in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by officers of the Syrian Armed Forces with the goal of bringing down the governm ...
(FSA). The group fought to expel the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
from
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
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and
Raqqa
Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish languages, Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. T ...
provinces.
[ In an October 2015 publication, the Washington D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War considered Euphrates Volcano as one of the "powerbrokers" in Aleppo Province, being primarily "anti-ISIS" but not necessarily "anti-regime".
]
History
In September 2014, several Free Syrian Army groups released a video addressing the Siege of Kobani in which they issued a joint statement pledging to defend the city from ISIS
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...
and asking for aid from western countries to do so. The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
noted that the flag of the YPG
The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly-Kurds in Syria, Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the ...
featured prominently in the video, indicating the possibility of YPG cooperation with the FSA.
This was proved true later that year, when YPG member started to train FSA members, eventually leading to the establishment of the Euphrates Volcano, which deepened the alliance between the PYD and Kobani FSA.
The capture of Tell Abyad from ISIL in July 2015 was a major success of the Euphrates Volcano operations room.
On 10 October 2015, the Euphrates Volcano was one of the founding members of the Syrian Democratic Forces. Soon after the formation of the SDF, the Euphrates Volcano was superseded by various other groups and military councils within the SDF. It was one of the few operations rooms which had been set up by non-government forces during the civil war that were able to transform into a "semi-stable" alliance.
See also
* Euphrates Islamic Liberation Front
The Euphrates Islamic Liberation Front ( ar, جبهة تحرير الفرات الإسلامية; ''Jabhat al-Tahrir al-Furat al-Islamiyyah'') was a Syrian rebel alliance that was active during the Syrian civil war. The group became defunct since ...
* List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
References
External links
Burkan al-Furat Archives - ARA News
{{coord missing, Syria
Anti-government factions of the Syrian civil war
Anti-ISIL factions in Syria
Operations rooms of the Syrian civil war
Aleppo Governorate in the Syrian civil war
Kurdish organisations
Syrian Democratic Forces
Free Syrian Army
Military units and formations established in 2014