The Idlib Revolutionaries Brigade is an active armed Syrian group part of the

Syrian Democratic Forces The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a Kurds in Syria, Kurdish-led coalition of U.S.-backed Left-wing politics, left-wing ethnic militias and rebel groups, and serves as the official military wing of the Democratic Autonomous Administration ...

and associates itself 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 ...

, the group is mainly composed of individuals from the

Idlib Governorate Idlib Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Idlib'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in northwestern Syria, bordering Turkey's Hatay province to the north, Aleppo Governorate to the east, Hama Governorate to the sou ...

in northwestern Syria and opposes

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 ...

and its presence in Syria, as well as many of the groups it backs most of which are based or also operate in Idlib.

Background

The group was formed by 500 fighters a majority of whom are natives of Idlib from the Ahrar al-Zawiya Brigade in June 2018, and is affiliated with another SDF Arab faction, the

Army of Revolutionaries The Army of Revolutionaries (), also known as ''Jaysh al-Thuwar'', is a multi-ethnic armed Syrian rebel coalition that is allied with the primarily Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and participating in the Syrian Civil War as part of th ...

which also uses Free Syrian Army imagery, to operate in Idlib on behalf of the Syrian Democratic Forces, while the group itself is headquartered in SDF-held

Manbij Manbij (; ; ) is a city in the northeast of Aleppo Governorate in northern Syria, west of the Euphrates. The 2004 census gives its population as nearly 100,000.

in northeastern Aleppo. After the foundation of the group, the Syrian Democratic Forces released a statement saying the group was established to fight terrorists in Idlib and surrounding areas. The group's spokesman Mahmoud Khaled stated that the group opposes reconciliation with the

Syrian government The government of Syria takes place in a presidential system and is currently in a transitionary period under and led by a transitional government. The seat of the government is located in Damascus, Syria. On 8 December 2024, after the succ ...

led by

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

saying that the government does not work in the favor of Syria, but rather for the interests of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and Iranian-backed Shiite militias. Khaled also told journalists that the Syrian Democratic Forces had met with officials from

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

in Kobane, and said that the meeting was organized by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to help combat Iranian and Turkish influence in Syria, with the deployment of Arab soldiers in Syria. The group's leader, Iskander Alaa claims that Turkey is protecting

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was a Sunni Islamist political organisation and paramilitary group involved in the Syrian civil war. It was formed on 28January 2017 as a merger between several armed groups: Jaysh al-Ahrar (an Ahrar al-Sham facti ...

, which he believes is still

al-Nusra 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 ...

, despite openly denouncing its link to

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

, changing its name and merging with other groups to form HTS, and that Russian-Turkish negotiations have failed, he also believes that military action is necessary to remove HTS from Idlib in order to stop Russian airstrikes in Idlib and he called upon Idlib's locals to join the Idlib Revolutionaries Front and fight HTS and al-Qaeda.

History

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

the group claims to be active in fighting against the Turkish military and

allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

rebel groups fighting against the

in northern Syria. On 2 December 2019 a statement was released by the Idlib Revolutionaries Brigade, that claimed that Turkey had committed a massacre in Tel Rifaat and called upon the European Union, United States and Russia to intervene against Turkey and its military operation in northern Syria.https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=463935140926684&id=263676470952553&_ft_=mf_story_key.463935140926684%3Atop_level_post_id.463935140926684%3Atl_objid.463935140926684%3Acontent_owner_id_new.263676470952553%3Athrowback_story_fbid.463935140926684%3Apage_id.263676470952553%3Aphoto_id.463925200927678%3Astory_location.4%3Astory_attachment_style.photo%3Apage_insights.%7B%22263676470952553%22%3A%7B%22page_id%22%3A263676470952553%2C%22actor_id%22%3A263676470952553%2C%22dm%22%3A%7B%22isShare%22%3A0%2C%22originalPostOwnerID%22%3A0%7D%2C%22psn%22%3A%22EntStatusCreationStory%22%2C%22post_context%22%3A%7B%22object_fbtype%22%3A266%2C%22publish_time%22%3A1575315878%2C%22story_name%22%3A%22EntStatusCreationStory%22%2C%22story_fbid%22%3A%5B463935140926684%5D%7D%2C%22role%22%3A1%2C%22sl%22%3A4%2C%22targets%22%3A%5B%7B%22actor_id%22%3A263676470952553%2C%22page_id%22%3A263676470952553%2C%22post_id%22%3A463935140926684%2C%22role%22%3A1%2C%22share_id%22%3A0%7D%5D%7D%7D&__tn__=%2C%3B&refid=52

References

{{reflist Anti-Assad factions of the Syrian civil war Anti-ISIL factions in Syria Syrian Democratic Forces Free Syrian Army

Background

History

See also

References