Guardians of the Dawn

Guardians of the Dawn
حراس الفجر
Participant in the Syrian Civil War

A promotional image for the Guardians of the Dawn, showcasing their insignia to the right. The constituent groups of the coalition also frequently use the Christian cross, the Flag of Syria and images of Bashar al-Assad as logos.

A promotional image for the Guardians of the Dawn, showcasing their insignia to the right. The constituent groups of the coalition also frequently use the Christian cross, the Flag of Syria and images of Bashar al-Assad as logos.
Active 2015[1][2] – present
Ideology Christian solidarity
Christian holy war
Syrian nationalism
Allegiance Air Force Intelligence Directorate[1][2]
Groups
  • Lions of the Cherubim
    • Earthquake of Jobar
  • Ararat Group
  • Lions of the Valley
  • Lions of Hamidiya (former)
  • Intervention Regiment
  • Lions of Dwel’a
Leaders Fadi Abd al-Massih Khouri[1]
Headquarters Various Christian towns throughout Syria
Area of operations Syria
Allies Syrian Armed Forces
SSNP
Sootoro
SyriaIraq Various other pro-government militias
Opponents Free Syrian Army
Army of Conquest
Jaysh al-Islam
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Jund al-Aqsa
Battles and wars

Syrian Civil War

The Guardians of the Dawn (Arabic: حراس الفجر Ḥurrās al-Fajr) are a coalition of Christian pro-government militias which are involved in the Syrian Civil War and affiliated with the Air Force Intelligence Directorate. Although the Guardians of the Dawn, whose official motto is "A homeland that we do not protect is one we do not deserve to live in", promote themselves as a Syrian nationalist force, their fighters are primarily motivated by a concept of holy war to defend the Christian areas of Syria from hostile rebels. The militiamen of Usud al-Cherubim, one of the coalition's constituent groups, even refer to themselves as "mujahideen of the cross".[1]

History

According to their official leader, Fadi Abd al-Massih Khouri, the Guardians of the Dawn were established on 11 September 2015, when various Christian militias banded together to defend the Christian town of Maarounah from an attack by Jaysh al-Islam; as this ad-hoc alliance proved highly successful, the coalition was promptly formalized under Khouri's leadership. The idea behind its foundation was that the different Christian militias should help each other when their villages come under assault.[1]

Initially, the new coalition was known as "Homeland Shield" ("Dir’ al-Watan"), and soon began to participate in various campaigns to defend or liberate Christian localities in Syria: In late 2015 the member groups joined a government offensive in the western Homs Governorate, during which they helped to retake Sadad and Mahin from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. For these operations they received the official gratitude of Sootoro. In March 2016 the alliance adopted its current name, and later that year sent fighters to the northern Hama Governorate in order to defend a number of Christian villages from a Jihadist-led rebel offensive.[1]

Besides these campaigns, the Guardians of the Dawn are also very active throughout the Rif Dimashq Governorate, taking part in various offensives against rebel-held eastern Ghouta and the Siege of Darayya and Muadamiyat; the latter operation was partly framed by Usud al-Cherubim as "liberating its [Darayya's] churches". Khouri also ran as parliamentary candidate in the elections of April 2016, though failed to win a seat.[1]

Constituent groups

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi (14 December 2016). "Usud Al-Cherubim: A Pro-Assad Christian Militia". Syria Comment. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Oehring (2017), p. 14.
  3. ↑ Oehring (2017), pp. 13, 14.
  4. ↑ Oehring (2017), p. 21.

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.