User:Forerunner/A Who's Who guide to the Syrian Civil War

There are hundreds of military groups fighting in the on-going Syrian Civil War. This guide will list down who they are, what umbrella organizations they belong to, and how crazy they are.

There are five main power blocks fighting: the Loyalists who fight for Bashar al-Assad; the "opposition", a collective of secular and Islamist groups; al-Qaeda; DAESH, and the Kurds (who lead groups of other ethnic groups within their territory).

Loyalists
The Syrian Loyalists are a collection of militant groups loyal to the government of Bashar al-Assad, including the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).


 * Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq - formerly an Iraq-based shi'ite paramilitary organization sponsored by Iran. An opponent of the Multi-National Force during the Iraq War, they later turned their attention to the civil war in Syria, calling themselves there Haidar al-Karar Brigades. They are allied with the Syrian Arab Army and Hezbollah.
 * Hezbollah - a Lebanese-based militia group formed originally to fight Israel. Since the start of the war, Hezbollah has been sending its forces to the Syria-Lebanon border to prevent DAESH crossing. This, they have failed to do and are taking casualties from bombings within the country. In Syria's southern provinces, Hezbollah has been encountered aiding the SAA directly.


 * Former
 * Liwa Abu al-Fadhal al-Abbas - one of the Iraqi allies of the SAA. A Shi'a group focused on religious matters, they were primarily used as a means of defending mosques used by Loyalists, but were not above desecrating the shines of rebels. When DAESH started making inroads in Iraq, they left Syria to protect their homes.

Syrian opposition
The Syrian opposition is a very loose coalition of rebel groups, who are arguably only even a coalition due to being co-belligerents too busy fighting bigger enemies to add more enemies to their lists. The secular militant groups pledge allegiance to the National Coalition, who are recognised by many countries as the official government of Syria.


 * Free Syrian Army (FSA) - the primary military organization in the opposition.

Islamic Front
The Islamic Front is the main Islamist alternative to the Free Syrian Army. It was led by Zahran Alloush until his death in an SAA airstrike in December 2015. The Islamic Front is antidemocratic and seeks to remove any Shi'a and Alawite presence from Syria. Consequently it is often divorced from the more secular elements of the Opposition.


 * Ahrar ash-Sham - A radical organization by Islamic Front standards, Ahrar (at least until its leader Hassan Aboud's death in 2014) argues there are no truly secular rebels; just misguided Islamists. Although they are opposed to DAESH and al-Nusra, they are willing to work with the latter if it helps them against the former. Over the years they have lost several unit commanders to misunderstandings with DAESH (mistaking the flying of a Malaysian flag for Ahrar being an American unit; mistaking leaders for Syrian Army commanders, etc.), and Ahrar is more than willing to organise DAESH-style executions of fighters in response. Ahrar is known for its executions of Christians in Idlib. German intelligence suggests Ahrar ash-Sham is being armed by Turkey.
 * Jaysh al-Islam - Zahran Alloush's militant group. It has been accused of various war crimes from the extermination of Christian and Druze civilians in captured towns, to using civilians as deterrents to Russian planes. Upon Alloush's death, bombings intensified at the end of December in retribution. Jaysh al-Islam considers itself to be at war with the PKK.
 * al-Fawj al-Awal
 * Northern Storm Brigade
 * Ansar al-Sham - based in Latakia, ansar al-Sham is led by Abu Omar, an experienced leader who was part of the Mujahideen war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. They are believed to be responsible for the mass-abductions of Armenian Christians following the Latakia offensive in mid-2014.
 * Sham Legion (Faylaq Ash-Sham) - also known as the "Homs Legion", Faylaq'.


 * Former


 * Kurdish Islamic Front - A Kurdish organization opposed to any autonomy or independence for the Kurdish areas of Syria. They merged into Ahrar ash-Sham in 2014.

al-Qaeda
Like all countries in the Middle East, there are local al-Qaeda affiliates in the region. The al-Qaeda allied groups have a close association with the Islamic Front, and so are essentially a co-belligerent of the Syrian opposition.


 * Jabhat al-Nusra - otherwise known as the al-Nusra Front, they are the primary organization in Syria. al-Nusra is known for its use of child soldiers, as well as being the birthplace of DAESH. al-Nusra holds coastal territory at the Turkish border.

DAESH
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, commonly known by its Arabic acronym as DAESH, is an Islamist organization which aims to establish an Islamic caliphate in Syria and Iraq. It is against most other groups due to its declaration that all Muslims who are opposed to it are thus kafir. It has gained support from several organizations, however, who have declared DAESH's leader Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi to be their ultimate leader. In some cases, however, as with Boko Haram, alliances can be seen as nothing other than a means of looking threatening to enemy groups. Alongside its hatred for al-Qaeda and war against the al-Nusra Front, DAESH is often also associated with anti-Kurdish racism, likely spawning from the troublesome Arab-Kurdish relations of the 1980s and '90s, and cares more about fighting Kurdish militias than fighting the Syrian Arab Army. Much of DAESH's early successes in Iraq were thanks to support from turncoat Iraqi Army officers opposed to the post-Saddam state, who brought in tactical and logistical know-how. They are a liability, however, and are liable to turn against DAESH at any time.


 * Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade (لواء أحرار السنة بعلبك, Ahrar al-Sunna Baalbek Brigade) - a DAESH ally found in Lebanon. They were formed in November 2013 as a Baalbek-based al-Qaeda group. They are primarily opposed to Hezbollah, who has been fighting Salafi groups spilling into the country from Syria. They were behind the December 2013 assassination of Hassan al-Laqqis, a high-ranking Hezbollah member. In June 2014, they formally pledged allegiance to DAESH, and began increasing their targets to Maronite Christians, who support the selling of arms to the Free Syrian Army.
 * Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade (Katibah Shuhada' al-Yarmouk) - originally a member of the Free Syrian Army's Southern Front collective founded in mid-2012, Yarmouk left to ally itself with Salafi groups. Until it joined DAESH in 2014, its main source of income was high-profile hostage takings, particularly of UN workers. Yarmouk considers al-Nusra to be its primary opponent in the conflict, and frequently fights them with help from Jaysh al-Jihad. This culminated in November 2015 with al-Nusra bombing the group's headquarters in Jamla, killing its leader Muhammed al-Baridi.
 * Jihad Army (Jaysh al-Jihad) - comprised of former al-Nusra members, Jaysh was formed in December 2014 in response to al-Nusra's war with Yarmouk. It has since joined DAESH as a close ally and, like the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, is primarily concerned with fighting al-Nusra. In April, Jaysh al-Jihad killed several members of the Southern Front; al-Nusra took advantage of the resulting hostilities to eradicate Jaysh forces in al-Qahtaniyah and Quneitra.

Rojava
When the Syrian opposition began fighting Loyalist forces in Syrian Kurdistan - the northern governorates which border Turkey - the Kurds -later joined by Assyrians- began their own revolution, forcing out opposition groups. These groups generally do not care for the fighting along the coast, seeing it as an Arab affair. They are not at war with the Loyalists, instead seeking greater autonomy for not fighting. Occasional fighting aside, the Kurds are focused on fighting DAESH. The government of Syrian Kurdistan is the Kurdish Supreme Committee, which consists of liberal and Socialist groups. The Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), a socialist political party known for its support of Kurdish nationalism in Turkey, operates independently from the Kurdish Supreme Committee but is an ally. They are infamous in Turkey for their armed wing, which is responsible for a number of terrorist attacks in the country. Consequently, Turkey has focused more effort in bombing PKK barracks than actually bombing DAESH, indirectly helping the Islamists.


 * Kurdish Supreme Committee
 * People's Protection Units (YPG) - the official (male) army for Rojava, directly under the command of the Kurdish Supreme Committee.
 * Women's Protection Units (YPJ) - the all-female and equally-official counterpart to the YPG.


 * Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
 * People's Defence Forces - the Socialist alternative to the YPG
 * Free Women's Units - the Socialist alternative to the YPJ