Jamal Maarouf () was one of the most powerful rebel leaders in northern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

during the earlier stages of the Syrian Civil War. He was the military chief of the

Syrian Revolutionaries Front The Syrian Revolutionaries Front (, ''Jabhat Thowar Suriya'', SRF, also translated Syrian Rebel Front) was an alliance of 14 relatively moderate religious and some secular armed groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, formed in ...

and leader of the Syrian Martyrs' Brigade, both part of 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 ...

Biography

Before the uprising against president

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 ...

, Jamal Maarouf was a construction worker. He was one of the first to take up arms in the

Idlib province 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 south, ...

against the

Assad regime Ba'athist Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), was the Syrian state between 1963 and 2024 under the one-party rule of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. From 1971 until its collapse in 2024, it was rule ...

. Jamal Maarouf created the Syrian Martyrs' Brigade in December 2011 and later the

Syria Revolutionaries Front The Syrian Revolutionaries Front (, ''Jabhat Thowar Suriya'', SRF, also translated Syrian Rebel Front) was an alliance of 14 relatively moderate religious and some secular armed groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, formed in ...

, with funding by

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 ...

. The SRF was accused of corruption and of hoarding bread to raise prices in areas under its control, prompting 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 ...

to attack it. Maarouf then fled to

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 ...

after his force was defeated by the

in late 2014. On 16 December 2016, Maarouf and other leaders of groups ousted by al-Nusra declared their willingness to return to Syria. Their statement was handwritten and signed by Maarouf, Abdullah Awda (

Hazzm Movement The Hazzm Movement (, ''Ḥarakat Ḥazzm'', meaning ''Movement of Steadfastness'') was an alliance of Syrian rebel groups affiliated with the Free Syrian Army in northwestern Syria that existed from 25 January 2014 until 1 March 2015, when many ...

), Mithqal al-Abdullah (Ansar Brigades) and Youssef al-Hassan (Haq al-Muqatila Front). On 16 October 2020, Maarouf broke his long years of silence by putting a statement online, praising those who stand against

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 ...

. He also put forward an open initiative aimed at establishing a unified military council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maarouf, Jamal 1975 births Living people Members of the Free Syrian Army Place of birth missing (living people)