Free Syrian Army

Not to be confused with Syrian Army.
Free Syrian Army
الجيش السوري الحر

Official logo of Free Syrian Army
Active 29 July 2011 – present
Country Syria
Allegiance Syrian National Council[1]
Branch Army
Type Light infantry
Role Civilian protection,[2]

armed resistance
Size 20,000[3]

Free Syrian Army claim
1,000 to 25,000[4][5]
Independent estimates
Main base Hatay, Turkey
Nickname Free Officers Movement
(Arabic: حركة الضباط الأحرار‎)
Motto Free Army, Free Syria!
(Arabic: جيش حر, سوريا حرة‎)
Colors Green, Red, White and Black
Engagements 2011 Syrian uprising
Commanders
Commander-in-Chief Colonel Riad al-Asaad
Deputy Commander-in-Chief Colonel Malik Kurdi[6]
Chief of Staff Colonel Ahmad Hijazi[7]
Insignia
Identification mark

The Free Syrian Army (Arabic: الجيش السوري الحر‎, al-jayš as-suri al-ħurr) is the main opposition army group in Syria.[8] It is composed of defected Syrian Armed Forces personnel, who have been active during the 2011–2012 Syrian uprising.[8] The formation of the opposition army group was announced on 29 July 2011 in a web video released by a group of uniformed defectors from the Syrian military, who called upon members of the army to defect and join them.[9] The leader of the men, who identified himself as Colonel Riad al-Asaad, announced that the FSA would work with demonstrators to bring down the system and declared that all security forces attacking civilians are justified targets.[10][11] Riad al-Asaad emphasised that the Free Syrian Army has no political goals except the liberation of Syria from Bashar Assad's regime.[12][13]

The Free Syrian Army has also stated that the conflict is not sectarian, and that they have in their ranks Alawis who oppose the regime, and that there will be no reprisals when the regime falls.[14] On 23 September 2011, the Free Syrian Army merged with the Free Officers Movement (Arabic: حركة الضباط الأحرار‎, ħarakat al-ḍubbaṭ al-aħrar) and became the main opposition army group.[8][15][16] By December, there were an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 defectors from the armed forces according to activist and media sources,[17][18][19][20] western intelligence sources estimated greater than 10,000 defectors.[21][22] In December, the Free Syrian Army reported a total of 20,000 men in its ranks.[3] The actual number of soldiers defecting to the Free Syrian Army is unknown.[23][24]

According to their leader Riad Asaad, as of November 2011, the FSA gained 100 to 300 members every time it mounted an attack.[25] The FSA is operating throughout Syria, both in urban areas and in the countryside. Forces are active in the northwest (Idlib, Aleppo), the central region (Homs, Hama, and Rastan), the coast around Latakia, the south (Deraa and Houran), the east (Dayr al-Zawr, Abu Kamal), and the Damascus area. The largest concentration of these forces appears to be in the central region (Homs, Hama, and surrounding areas), with nine or more battalions active there.[26]

Contents

History

In the Free Syrian Army’s first statement, Riad al-Asaad explained that the opposition army’s formation resulted “from our nationalistic duty, our loyalty to the people, our sense of the current need for conclusive decisions to stop the regime’s massacres that cannot be tolerated any longer, and resulting from the army’s responsibility to protect the unarmed free people.” And he proceeded to “announce the formation of the free Syrian army to work hand in hand with the people to achieve freedom and dignity, bring the regime down, protect the revolution and the country’s resources, and stand in the face of the irresponsible military machine that protects the regime.”[11]

Asaad continued by calling on the officers and men of the Syrian army to "defect from the army, stop pointing their rifles at their people's chests, join the free army, and form a national army that can protect the revolution and all sections of the Syrian people with all their sects." He continued that the Syrian army "[represents] gangs that protect the regime" and declared, "as of now, the security forces that kill civilians and besiege cities will be treated as legitimate targets. We will target them in all parts of the Syrian territories without exception.[11]

As no confirmed evidence of an organized Free Syrian Army beyond video statements was produced in the beginning, its existence was questioned by some sources.[27][28] However in late August, a top member of the organization, Colonel Hussein Harmoush, was detained during a special operation by Syrian forces in Idlib and confessed on state television that he was a member of the opposition army and that while in the Syrian army he was not forced to shoot on protesters.[29] Since August, the Free Syrian Army has also made a number of interviews with the international media from both locations on the Syrian-Turkish border and inside Syria.[30]

According to its leader, the Free Syrian Army "aims to be the military wing of the Syrian peoples opposition to the regime".[31] He also asked that the international community help arm the opposition army and impose a no fly zone and a naval blockade of Syria[16][31]

On 16 November, the FSA released a statement which announced that a temporary military council had been formed, in an effort to weaken the Pro Assad forces.[32] On 17 November, the FSA announced the formation of the Sham Falcons battalion, pledging to Bashar al-Assad that "you will find us everywhere at all times, and you will see that which you do not expect, until we re-establish the rights and freedom of our people."[33]

Military tactics

As the Syrian army is highly organised and well-armed, the Free Syrian Army has adopted guerrilla-style tactics in the countryside and cities, similar to those described in Guevara’s book Guerrilla Warfare.[34] The FSA claims it actively engages and ambushes security forces and the state’s shabiha militia, but seldom confronts other regular army soldiers for fear of alienating them. Most of their attacks have been on buses bringing in security reinforcements often by planting bombs or carrying out hit-and-run attacks.[14]

In order to encourage defections, the Free Syrian Army has been ambushing patrols and shooting their commanders and then convincing the rank and file to switch sides. Ninety percent of the Syrian Army soldiers are Sunni, while the commanders are mostly from Bashar Assad’s Alawi sect. The FSA battalions have also acted as defense forces in neighborhoods opposed to the government, guarding streets while protests take place and attacking the militias, known as shabiha, which are an integral part of the government's efforts to suppress dissent.[35] In Deir ez-Zor, Al-Rastan and Abu Kamal the Free Syrian Army, however, engaged in street battles that raged for days with no particular side gaining the advantage. Recently, air support was used against them in Hama, Homs, Al-Rastan, Deir ez-Zor and Deraa.[14]

Because defecting soldiers lack air cover, deserting soldiers have to abandon their armoured vehicles. Soldiers defect carrying only their army issued light arms and hide in cities, suburbs or the cover of the countryside.[14] Raids on government checkpoints and arms depots are carried out to supply the free army with ammunition and new arms. The FSA also purchases weapons on the Syrian black market which is supplied by arms smugglers from neighboring countries and corrupt loyalist forces selling government arms. There have been reports that whole arms depots have been offered for sale, although these offers were refused because of fears of a potential trap.[36][37] The FSA has asked that the international community supply them with arms so that they can protect the Syrian people.[38][39] The main arms that the FSA has are AK47s and RPG-7s.[40]

Armed actions in 2011

See also: Timeline of the 2011 Syrian uprising (from September)

September

From 27 September to 1 October, Syrian government forces, backed by tanks and helicopters, led a major offensive on the city of Al-Rastan in Homs province, which had been under opposition control for the past couple weeks.[41][42] There were reports of large numbers of defections in the city, and the Free Syrian Army reported it had destroyed 17 pro-Assad armoured vehicles during clashes in Rastan,[43] using RPGs and booby traps.[44] The Al-Harmoush battalion also reported that it killed 80 loyalist soldiers in fighting.[45] A defected officer in the Syrian opposition claimed that over a hundred officers had defected as well as thousands of conscripts, although many had gone into hiding or home to their families, rather than fighting the loyalist forces.[44] The Battle of Rastan between the government forces and the Free Syrian Army was the longest and most intense action up until that time. After a week of fighting, the FSA was forced to retreat from Rastan.[42] To avoid government forces, the leader of the FSA, Col. Riad Asaad, retreated to the Turkish side of Syrian-Turkish border.[46]

October

By the beginning of October, clashes between loyalist and defected army units were being reported fairly regularly. During the first week of the month, sustained clashes were reported in Jabal al-Zawiya in the mountainous regions of Idlib province.[47] On 13 October, clashes were reported in the town of Haara in Daraa province in the south of Syria that resulted in the death of two rebel and six loyalist soldiers, according to the London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.[48][49] Clashes were also reported in the city of Binnish in Idlib province with a total of 14 fatalities for both affected towns, including rebels, loyalists and civilians.[50] A few days later on 17 October, five government troops were killed in the town of Qusair in the central province of Homs, near the border with Lebanon, and 17 people were reported wounded in skirmishes with defectors in the town of Hass in Idlib province near the mountain range of Jabal al-Zawiya, although it was unclear if the wounded included civilians.[51] According to the London based organization, an estimated 11 government soldiers were killed that day, four of which were killed in a bombing. It was not clear if the defectors linked to these incidents were connected to the Free Syrian Army.[52]

On 20 October, the opposition reported that clashes occurred between loyalists and defectors in Burhaniya, near the town of Qusair in the central province of Homs, leading to the death of several soldiers and the destruction of two military vehicles.[53] A week later on 25 October, clashes occurred in the northwestern town of Maarat al-Numaan in Idlib province between loyalists and defected soldiers at a roadblock on the edge of the town. The defectors launched an assault on the government held roadblock in retaliation for a raid on their positions the previous night.[54] The next day on 26 October, the opposition reported that nine soldiers were killed by a rocket-propelled grenade when it hit their bus in the village of Hamrat, near the city of Hama. The gunmen who attacked the bus were believed to be defected soldiers.[55]

On 29 October, the opposition reported that 17 pro-Assad soldiers were killed in the city of Homs during fighting with suspected army deserters, including a defected senior official who was aiding the rebel soldiers. Two armoured personnel carriers were disabled in the fighting. Later the number of casualties was revised to 20 killed and 53 wounded soldiers in clashes with presumed army deserters, according to Agence France Presse. In a separate incident, 10 security agents and a deserter were killed in a bus ambush near the Turkish border, opposition activists reported. The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights reported that the bus was transporting security agents between the villages of Al-Habit and Kafrnabuda in Idlib province when it was ambushed "by armed men, probably deserters".[56][57][58]

November

On 1 November, dozens of armored vehicles converged on a village in the Kafroma in Idlib, as defected soldiers killed an unknown number of Syrian soldiers. A few days later on 5 November, at least nine people died in clashes between soldiers, protesters and defectors, and four Shabeeha were killed in Idlib reportedly by army deserters.[59] On the same day, the state-news agency SANA reported the deaths of 13 soldiers and policemen as a result of clashes with armed groups.[60] According to SANA, four policemen were also wounded in clashes with an armed group in Kanaker in the Damascus countryside while one of the armed individuals died, additionally that day, two explosive devices were dismantled.[61]

More army defections were reported in Damascus on 10 November, three out of at least nine defectors were shot dead by loyalist gunmen after abandoning their posts. The same day, clashes reportedly resulted in the death of a fifteen year old boy in Khan Sheikhoun, when he was caught in crossfire between Assad loyalists and the free army.[62] Also on the 10 November "at least four soldiers in the regular army were killed at dawn in an attack, headed by armed men - probably deserters - on a military checkpoint in Has region, near Maaret al-Numan town" according to the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights.[63] However, the number has also been put at five soldiers.[62] A checkpoint in Maarat al-Numaan three kilometers south of Homs also came under attack by defectors, resulting in an increase in tank deployment by Syrian security forces in the city.[62]

On 11 November, Reuters reported that 26 soldiers were killed,[64] while Syrian state media reported the lower figure of 20 soldiers killed at this time.[65][66] For November, there have been conflicting reports of the number of Syrian soldiers injured and killed. For the month up until 13 November, the Local Coordination Committees have reported about 20 deaths,[64] the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights has reported more than 100 deaths,[64] and the Syrian state media SANA has reported 71 deaths.[65][66][67][68][69][70][71]

Clashes in Deraa province began on the 14 November when 34 soldiers and 12 defectors were killed in an ambush by the free army. The death toll as a result of the fighting also included 23 civilians.[72] One day later on 15 November, eight soldiers and security forces troops were killed by an assault on a checkpoint in Hama province, according to activists.[73]

On November 16 in a coordinated attack, an air force intelligence complex on the edges of Damascus was attacked. According to the Free Syrian Army, they did so with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, leading to the death of at least six soldiers with twenty others wounded. A western diplomat said the assault was "hugely symbolic and tactically new".[32][74] The attack on the air force intelligence complex was a continuation of clashes in Damascus.

The Free Syrian Army launched an assault against the Baath party youth headquarters in Idlib the next day with RPG's and small arms.[75] The state news agency SANA reported the deaths of three Syrian troops as a result of a bomb blast, with an officer also critically wounded and two law-enforcement agents injured.[76] Three members of the security forces were reportedly killed on the 18/19 November by the Free Syrian Army.[77] Multiple attacks on the 19th by "armed terrorists" were also reported by the state news agency SANA.[78] They allege that ten "wanted terrorists" were captured in Maarat al-Numan.[79]

According to Reuters, two rocket propelled grenades hit a Baath party building in Damascus on the 20th. This if true is highly significant; it is the first attack of this kind within the capital itself and would lend weight to the Free Syrian Army's claim that it can strike anywhere in Syria. According to Reuters, a witness said: "Security police blocked off the square where the Baath's Damascus branch is located. But I saw smoke rising from the building and fire trucks around it." The building was reportedly mostly empty in the attack which took place before dawn and was seemingly a message to the regime.[80] However, an AFP reporter went to the area and saw no signs of the claimed attack while residents said that there had been no explosions.[81] Colonel Asaad himself denied that the Free Syrian Army was responsible for the attack. It is therefore likely that it was a provocation by the Assad regime.[82]

On the 22nd of November, the Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for killing eight members of the security forces.[83] On Tuesday 23 November, five defected soldiers were killed; four in a farm near Deraa where they were hiding and one near the Lebanese border, according to Reuters. If there was a confrontation between the soldiers and government troops is unclear. Any government troop casualties as a result of these clashes are also unknown.[84]

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, on the 24th November soldiers and Shabiha with armoured vehicles allegedly started operations in farmland west of Rastan to hunt down defectors. 24 people died as a result (if they were soldiers, defectors or civilians is not made clear). At least fifty tanks and other armed vehicles opened fire with 50 cal. machine guns and anti aircraft weapons on positons held by the Free Syrian Army on Rastan's outskirts. Deaths were also reported in Darr'a and Homs[85] On 24 November, 11 defectors were killed and four wounded during clashes on the western outskirts of Homs.[86]

In an ambush in Homs province on November 25, six elite piots, one technical officer and three other personnel were killed. The Syrian government vowed to "cut every evil hand" of the attackers as a result.[87][88] The Free Syrian army claimed responsibility for the attack on the air base staff.[89] On that same day, at least 10 troops and security service agents were killed in clashes with mutinous soldiers in the east of Syria, a human rights group said on Saturday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths occurred late Friday in Deir Ezzor while early Saturday a civilian was also killed in the eastern city. Several defectors were also killed or wounded.[90][91][92]

Sustained clashes in Idlib province began on 26 November between loyalist and opposition fighters. At least 8 soldiers were killed and 40 more wounded that day when the free Syrian army attacked them in Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. "A group of deserters attacked a squad of soldiers and security agents in a convoy of seven vehicles, including three all-terrain vehicles, on the road from Ghadka to Maaret Numan,” the Britain-based watchdog said. “Eight were killed and at least 40 more were wounded. The deserters were able to withdraw without suffering any casualties,” it added. The FSA claimed to be behind the attack.[93][94]

Syrian human rights activists claimed that the Free Syrian Army had killed three loyalist soldiers and captured two others on 29 November, although they did not specify where.[95] According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, seven soldiers were killed on the 30th November in fighting in the town of Dael after security forces moved on the town in force. The fighting went on from the early morning to the late afternoon. "Two security force vehicles were blown up. Seven (troops) were killed," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the observatory. An activist from the town, in the province of Deraa, said some 30 busloads of security men stormed Dael and two of the buses were blown up in fighting "between security forces and defectors," the Observatory reported. One of the destroyed buses was allegedly empty.[96]

December

On 1 December, FSA troops launched a raid on an intelligence building in Idlib, leading to a three hour fire fight in which eight loyalists were killed.[97] This came the same day the United Nations announced it considered Syria to be in a state of civil war.[98]

On 3 December, clashes in the city of Idlib in the north of Syria the next day resulted in the death of seven Assad loyalist soldiers, five defectors and three civilians.[99]

On 4 December, heavy fighting raged in Homs during which at least five FSA insurgents were killed and one wounded.[100]

Defected soldiers killed four members of the security forces, including an officer, at the southern city of Dael in Daraa province on 5 December.[101]

On 7 December, there were clashes between the Syrian regular army and groups of army defectors near the radio broadcasting centre in the town of Saraqeb, in Idib district. An armoured personnel carrier (APC) of the regular army was destroyed during the clashes. Meanwhile, joint security and military forces raided the houses at the edges of Saraqeb and arrested three activists, at dawn time. This was according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.[102]

Between 1 December and 7 December, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported the deaths of 48 members of the state security forces.[103][104][105][106][107][108]

A military tank was destroyed in Homs on 9 December.[109] Four defected soldiers also apparently died in fighting on the 9th.[110][111]

On the 10th December, activists say clashes between Syrian troops and army defectors killed at least two people. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says two army armoured carriers were burned in the pre-dawn clash in the northwestern town of Kfar Takharim.[112]

On the 11th, it is reported that a battle was fought between defectors and the Syrian army in Busra al-Harir and Lujah. Troops, mainly from the 12th Armoured Brigade, based in Isra, 40 km from the border with Jordan, stormed the nearby town of Busra al-Harir, the Reuters news agency reported. It was apparently the largest battle to take place in the conflict so far.[113][114][115] At least five soldiers, including a military officer, are reported to have been killed the same day in an unspecified location.[116]

In one of Sunday’s clashes, which took place before dawn in the northwestern town of Kfar Takharim, two of the military’s armored vehicles were set ablaze, said the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.[117]

Three other vehicles were burned in another clash near the southern village of Busra al-Harir, the group said. Similar battles took place in several other parts of the south, said the Observatory and another activist group called the Local Coordination Committees.[117]

Syrian army defectors, who operate under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, say that a senior army officer was killed yesterday after refusing to fire on civilians in Homs. Maher al-Nueimi, a spokesman for the FSA, said that Brigadier-General Salman al-Awaja was given instructions to fire on residents of al-Quseir in Homs. When he refused, Nueimi said, he was killed. The FSA says that a large number of defections took place after the killing, as clashes broke out between al-Awaja's supporters in the army and the other soldiers who killed him.[118]

The Observatory said two people were killed in the clash with defectors in Kfar Takharim and two armoured vehicles were destroyed.[117][119]

On 12 December, three civilians and two defectors were killed during clashes in Idlib province.[120]

Fighting in Ebita, in the northwestern province of Idlib, continued throughout the night and into the early hours on Monday. At least one fighter was killed and another injured in the assault.[121]

The FSA killed ten troops in an ambush on a convoy in Idlib, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. This attack was allegedly done to avenge the deaths of 11 civilians previously killed. A Syrian officer was also killed in a revenge attack.[122][123]

Loyalist soldiers reportedly fired upon a civilian car near Homs on 14 December, killing five people, in response, the Free Syrian Army staged an ambush against a loyalist convoy consisting of four jeeps, killing eight soldiers.[124] The same day, three anti-regime military defectors were wounded in clashes with Syrian security forces in the village of Hirak in Daraa province. [125]

The FSA engaged loyalist army units and security service agents south of Damascus on 15 December, leading to 27 loyalist deaths and an unknown number of FSA casualties. The clashes broke out at three separate checkpoints in Daraa province around dawn[126]

Between 8 December and 15 December, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported the deaths of 68 members of the state security forces.[127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134]

A lieutenant colonel of the FSA was killed by the Syrian army the 17th December according to Local Committee, and opposition source. [135]

On 19 December, the FSA suffered its largest loss of life when new defectors tried to abandon their positions and bases between the villages of Kensafra and Kefer Quaid in Idlib province. Activist groups, specifically the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, reported that 72 defectors were killed as they were gunned down during their attempted escape. The Syrian Army lost only three soldiers during the clashes.[136] The next day, S.O.H.R. stated that in all 100 defectors were killed or wounded.[137] The clashes continued into 20 December, and another report, by Lebanese human rights activist Wissam Tarif, put the death toll even higher with 163 defectors, 97 government troops and nine civilians killed on the second day alone as the military hunted down those that managed to initially escape.[138]

On 21 December, it was reported that the FSA may have taken control over some towns and villages near Idlib.[139]

As of the 24th December, it is reported that the FSA stronghold in the Bab Amr neighbourhood of Homs is under attack by security forces, with two FSA troops killed.[140]

A minute long fire fight erupted between FSA forces and Assad security forces on 28 December, on a road near the village od Dael in Derra province. Four government soldiers were killed in the ambush.[141]

Armed actions in 2012

January

Syrian forces clashed with army deserters in a area near the capital Damascus, opposition activists said. The town of Reef Damascus saw fighting on 1 Januray as the government forces were hunting for suspected defectors, according to the activists. There were no immediate reports of casualties.[142]

According to the London based Syrian Observatory for Human rights and despite a seld declared ceasefire Free Syrian Army soldiers in Idlib, on 2 January, overrun two checkpoints belonging to security forces and captured dozens of loyalist troops, and launched an attack on a third checkpoint killing and wounding several loyalists.[143]

Command structure

Leadership

Damascus
Rif Dimashq
Quneitra
Daraa
As-Suwayda
Homs
Tartus
Latakia
Hama
Idlib
Aleppo
Ar-Raqqah
Deir ez-Zor
Al-Hasakah

The Free Syrian Army operates its command and headquarters from Turkey's southern Hatay province close to the Syrian border and its field command from inside Syria.[144][145] The army is led by Colonel Riad al-Asaad who is the Commander-in-Chief.[10] Colonel Malik Kurdi is his deputy and Colonel Ahmed Hijazi is the Chief of Staff of the Free Syrian Army.[146][147]

The army's command and control is exercised through a variety of means, including mobile phones, voice over internet, email, couriers and Facebook. The regime has captured a number of sophisticated communications devices from opposition fighters, including Thuraya mobile satellite phones, very high and ultra-high frequency (VHF/UHF) devices, and Inmarsat mobile communication satellite systems.[148]

The Free Syrian Army's battalion commanders and locations are listed below:[149][150]

Battalion Commanders

Commander Battalion
Lt. Col Abdul Satar Yunsu Hamza Khateeb
Capt. Ammar Al-Wawi Ababeel[146]
Capt. Ayham al-Kurdi Abu Fida[36]
Capt. Abdelaziz Tlass Khalid Bin Walid[16][149]
Capt. Ibrahim Majbur Hurriya[149][151][152]
Capt. Riyad Ahmad Samer Nunu
Capt. Qais Qata’neh Omari[153]
Lt. Mazen al-Zein Qassam
Maher Al-Rahmoun Moawiyah Bin Abi Sufian
Youssef Yahya Harmoush
Muhammad Tayseer Ousso Suqur
Wassim al-Khalid Abu Obeidah bin Al-Jarrah

Battalions

As of October 2011, the Free Syrian Army has according to its deputy commander twenty-two battalions. The battalions are spread across the country in its thirteen different governorates. The battalions are:[14][149][151]

International support

The Libyan National Transitional Council announced in November 2011 that it had been in talks with the Syrian National Council and was considering supplying weapons and volunteer fighters of the National Liberation Army to the Free Syrian Army, and that international intervention may only be weeks away. According to people with links to the National Council, the Libyans were offering money, weapons and training forces loyal to the Syrian National Council.[157][158]

On 29 November, it was reported that at least 600 fighters of the National Liberation Army from Libya had been dispatched to support the Free Syrian Army and had entered Syria through Turkey.[159]

See also

References

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