The Idlib Martyrs' Brigade (, ''Liwa Shuhada Idlib'') was an armed rebel group that fought against 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 ...

in 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 ...

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 ...

. It first operated under the name Syrian Liberation Army (), but had renamed itself by the end of April 2012. It was a loose coalition of localized forces, mostly composed of armed Syrian civilians who joined the uprising.

History

The group was based in

and was primarily concerned with trying to expel government forces from the governorate, with the Idlib Martyrs' Brigade claiming that they, and not the better equipped

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 ...

, are doing the majority of the fighting in Idlib province. The brigade only appears to be active in Idlib province. One of the group's primary problems was the fact that it was incredibly difficult for it to secure weapons and ammunition. This in turn severely hampered its recruitment and its ability to carry out attacks on Syrian government forces. The group has claimed that up to 7,100 people were ready to join the group but were prevented from doing so due to lack of weaponry and equipment. This shortage resulted in the group placing greater emphasis on roadside bombings using cheaper, homemade bombs, to fight the government. The group also refused to abide by the Kofi Annan brokered ceasefire with Haitham Qudeimati, the group's spokesman, stating that any lull in the fighting on their part would only be due to a lack of weaponry. On 5 November 2012, the head of the Idlib Martyrs' Brigade, Basil Eissa, along with at least 20 other rebels were killed in an airstrike by the

Syrian Air Force The Syrian Air Force () is the air force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It was established in 1948, and first saw action in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Under Ba'athist Syria until December 8, 2024, it was known as the Syrian Arab Air Forc ...

. On 9 December 2013, the Idlib Martyrs' Brigade alongside 13 other rebel groups formed 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 ...

. In September 2014 conflict erupted between the SRF 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 ...

in the Idlib Governorate. A number of fighters from the Idlib Martyrs' Brigade were killed in the fighting.

References

Anti-Assad factions of the Syrian civil war Anti-ISIL factions in Syria Military units and formations established in 2012 Military units and formations disestablished in 2014 {{syria-stub

History

See also

References