The Syrian Revolutionary Command Council ( ar-at, مجلس قيادة الثورة السورية, Majlis Qiyādat ath-Thawra as-Sūriyya) was an alliance of 72 Syrian rebels factions involved in the Syrian Civil War that was formed on 3 August 2014 and remained active throughout 2015. The aim of the council was to increase the coordination and unity between the different groups, with the council planned to be divided into regional fronts that will be led by councils made up of representatives from the different factions, similar to how 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 ...

was structured. The signatories represent both secular and Islamist groups; however

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

al-Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...

and some of its allies were excluded. Initially

Ahrar ash-Sham Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya ( ar-at, حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية, Ḥarakat Aḥrāru š-Šām al-Islāmiyah, lit=Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition ...

was also excluded, however the group did join the alliance in mid August 2014. The group announced its charter on 4 October 2014. It held its first formal meeting in

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally #Name, called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, Turk ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

on 29 November 2014.

Conflict within the coalition

Early on in the coalition's existence, tensions existed between moderate rebels and

-affiliated groups. As part of the

al-Nusra Front–SRF/Hazzm Movement conflict The al-Nusra Front–SRF/Hazzm Movement conflict started in late October 2014, during the Syrian Civil War, in Idlib and Aleppo governorates, during which al-Nusra attempted to establish an Islamic state rival to that of ISIL. Despite this, t ...

, the

stormed the bases of the Ansar Brigades, part of the

Syrian Revolutionaries Front The Syrian Revolutionaries Front ( ar, جبهة ثوار سوريا, ''Jabhat Thowar Suriya'', SRF, also translated Syrian Rebel Front) is an alliance of 14 relatively moderate religious and some secular armed groups fighting under the banner of ...

, in the

Idlib Governorate Idlib Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة ادلب / 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, Ham ...

and the Justice Front in

Hama Governorate Hama Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة حماة / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥamā'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in western-central Syria, bordering Idlib and Aleppo Governorates to the south, Raqqa Governorate to t ...

on 28 November 2014 as the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council was holding its first formal meeting in Turkey. Although Jabhat al-Nusra was excluded from the coalition, many of its allies not only were included but were assigned executive positions.The close relationship between Islamist groups and al-Nusra Front was demonstrated as the two routed groups, both of which were receiving U.S. support through a covert CIA program, were forced to delivered their weapons to Ahrar ash-Sham as part of their surrender to the al-Nusra Front. Immediately following the first formal meeting of the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council, Col. Muhammad Hallak expressed skepticism toward the October document on which the new group is based, saying it was written to ensure an Islamist government after Assad is toppled. Col. Hallak was quoted as saying: “The covenant itself doesn't mention the idea of free elections and most of the groups represented in the executive office don’t believe in the original democratic values of the revolution". In early December 2014, the

Hazzm Movement The Hazzm Movement ( ar, حركة حزم, ''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 Mar ...

withdrew its affiliation from the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council as a result of clashes between it and the al-Nusra Front in Syria. In the same time period, the southern branch of the Syria Revolutionaries Front declared that they have no connection to the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council. The Hazzm Movement and the Syria Revolutionaries Front had been

routed Routing is the process of selecting a path for traffic in a network or between or across multiple networks. Broadly, routing is performed in many types of networks, including circuit-switched networks, such as the public switched telephone netwo ...

in the northern province of Idlib by al-Nusra Front and its allies in November. As of late 2015, the council is no longer active.

References

External links

Syrian Revolutionary Command Council YouTube Channel
(most recent post 24 June 2015)
Syrian Revolutionary Command Council Twitter account
(most recent post 29 October 2015) {{Syrian Civil War Anti-government factions of the Syrian civil war Free Syrian Army Military units and formations established in 2014 Military units and formations disestablished in 2015