Hazzm Movement

Hazzm Movement
حركة حزم
Participant in the Syrian Civil War

Official logo of the Hazzm Movement

Hazzm Movement flag
Active 25 January 2014[1]–1 March 2015[2]
Leaders Bilal Atar[1]
Abdullah Awda[3]
Area of operations Idlib Governorate, Syria
Aleppo Governorate, Syria
Hama Governorate, Syria
Homs Governorate, Syria[4]
Strength 400[5] (February 2015)
Part of Free Syrian Army[6]
Levant Front[7]
Syrian Revolutionary Command Council[8]
Became Levant Front[2]
Opponents Syrian Armed Forces
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria[9]
Al-Nusra Front[7]
Battles and wars

Syrian Civil War

The Hazzm Movement (Arabic: حركة حزم‎, Harakat Hazzm, meaning Movement of Steadfastness[3]) was an alliance of moderate Syrian rebels.[1] The group has been supplied BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles[13] in a covert CIA program launched in 2014, scores of the groups fighters also received U.S. military training in Qatar under the same program.[14]

Some of the groups currently involved in the alliance were part of the Farouq Brigades.[13] The groups that became the Army of Mujahedeen were originally going to join the Hazzm Movement.[15] The previous incarnation of the group, called Harakat Zaman Mohamed (The movement of the time of Muhammad), was supported by the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood.[15]

In October 2014, Al-Nusra Front began attacking positions of Hazzm in Idlib Province, overrunning bases and seizing weapon stores, due to its perceived closeness to the United States.[14] Following the loss of men and weapons to Nusra, the Idlib branch of Hazzm stopped receiving funds from the CIA in December 2014, funds to the Aleppo branch continued.[16] In January 2015, Al Nusra attacked Hazzm Movement positions in Aleppo province. The Hazzm Movement reacted by joining the Levant Front, a large alliance of prominent Aleppo-based Islamist rebel groups; the alliance urged al Nusra to resolve its dispute with the Hazzm Movement by negotiating with the Levant Front.[17]

On 1 March 2015, after several heavy clashes with the Al-Nusra Front, the Hazzm Movement announced they were dissolving and joining the Levant Front.[2]

Affiliated groups

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Syrian insurgents acquire TOW missiles". IHS Jane's 360. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "U.S.-backed Syria rebel group dissolves itself after losses". Reuters Media. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Syrian rebels who received first U.S. missiles of war see shipment as ‘an important first step’". Washington Post. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "Rebels Worth Supporting: Syria's Harakat Hazm". Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "U.S. Syria strategy falters with collapse of rebel group". Reuters. 5 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "The new face of the Syrian rebellion". The Arab Chronicle. 5 March 2014. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Western-backed rebels join Aleppo alliance - Syria monitor". Reuters. 31 January 2015.
  8. ↑ ""حركة حزم" تنفي لـ "ساس نيوز" انسحابها من مجلس قيادة الثورة". SAS News. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  9. ↑ "Syria Update: January 6-12, 2015". Institute for the Study of War. 13 January 2015.
  10. ↑ "Syrian army enters Homs neighbourhoods". Al Jazeera English. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  11. ↑ "Reinforcements rush to Aleppo as battles rage". The Daily Star. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  12. ↑ "Al-Qaeda attacks Syrian rebels in Aleppo". ARA News. 31 January 2015.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "American Anti-Tank Weapons Appear in Syrian Rebel Hands (Updated)". Huffington Post. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "U.S.-backed Syria rebels routed by fighters linked to al-Qaeda". Washington Post. 2 November 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Harakat Hazm: America’s new favorite jihadist group". Al Akhbar. 25 May 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  16. ↑ "Rebels in northern Syria say U.S. has stopped paying them". McClatchy Newspapers. 9 December 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2015. Those cut off include a larger group of Hazm fighters whom Nusra ousted from their bases in the Zawyah mountains in Idlib province in October
  17. ↑ "Western-backed rebels join Aleppo alliance - Syria monitor". Reuters. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.

External links