Last modified: 2024-03-09 by ian macdonald
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![[2011/2012 Anti-Assad Revolt (Syria)]](../images/s/sy-1946.gif)
image by Eugene Ipavec, 09 May 2007
The Syrian uprising began in Deera, when 15 teenagers from the
same
family (Al-Abazeed) were arrested in early March 2011 for writing an
anti-regime slogan on the wall of their school. After attempts to
negotiate the release of the children were rejected by the local
government, a few hundred protesters gathered in front of al-Omari
Mosque on March 18, 2011 calling for reforms and end of corruption.
Soon after the gathering increased in size and it is reported that
over 3000 people protested on the first day. According to activists,
this protest was faced with Syrian security forces opening fire on the
protesters killing 3 people. Protests continued daily and on the 20th
of March, 7 police men were killed as well as least 4 protesters.
During this time the local courthouse, the Ba'ath party headquarters
in the city, and the Syriatel building owned by Rami Makhlouf, a
cousin of President Assad, were set on fire. Between 25 April and 5
May 2011, the fourth armoured division of the Syrian Army, led by
Maher al-Assad (brother of Bashar), besieged Daraa. Then other cities
followed military attacks, like Homs, Hama, Damascus, etc. escalating
violence throughout the whole country.
The Free Syrian Army (Arabic: الجيش السوري الحر, al-Jaysh as-Sūrī
al-Ḥurr, FSA) is a group of defected
Syrian Armed Forces officers and soldiers,
which was founded after the escalation of violence afterwards, on, 29
July 2011. It was founded by five (or seven) defected Syrian
officers. The group defined "all security forces attacking civilians"
as their enemies, and said its goal to be "to bring down the system"
or "to bring this regime down".
On September 23, 2011, the Free Syrian Army merged with the Free
Officers Movement (Arabic: حركة الضباط الأحرار, Ḥarakat aḑ-Ḑubbāṭ
al-Aḥrār).
The FSA coordinated with the
Syrian National Council starting in
December 2011, and supported the
National Coalition for Syrian
Revolutionary and Opposition Forces after the coalition's November 2012 creation. Between July 2012 and
July 2013, ill-discipline and infighting weakened FSA, while jihadist
groups entered northern Syria and became more effective than FSA. In
April 2013, the US promised $123 million aid to rebels, to be funneled
through the then leader of the FSA, Salim Idriss. A coalition of
moderate Muslim rebel groups fighting under the Supreme Military
Council of Syria, which includes the FSA, on 25 September 2014 allied
with a predominantly Christian coalition called
Syriac Military
Council, to
unite their fight against the Assad government and
ISIS.
The Free Syrian Army has adopted the configuration and tactics of a
guerrilla force. There are five deputy chief of staffs who are in
charge of five different regions of Syria. The field units are under
the direct command of nine regional commanders.
As of January 2012, the army had around
37 named battalion units, 17–23 of which appeared to be engaged in combat.
In October 2013, some 66 units fighting with the FSA in the south
seceded to join the new
Southern Front
Sources:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/10/free_syrian_army_con.php
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/11/syrian-rebels-make-gains-near-damascus-2014111819331867107.html).
The FSA uses has adopted
this flag and has
this logo.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Syrian_Army
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daraa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Daraa
Esteban Rivera, 20 November 2014
![[Free Syrian Army sub-unit]](../images/s/sy^fsa2.jpg)
image
located by William Garrison, 14 November 2023
A variety of a "Free Syrian Army" flag with apparently its name between the
three red stars on this flag of Syria, during a demonstration in the
neighborhood of Bustan Al-Qasr, Aleppo, Syria, Nov. 13, 2023.
Source:
https://www.thejournal.ie/syria-child-soldiers-829971-Mar2013/
Bill
Garrison, 14 November 2023
![[Free Syrian Army sub-unit]](../images/s/sy^fsa.jpg)
image
located by William Garrison, 21 April 2022
Source:
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/04/factional-infighting-escalates-northern-syria#ixzz7QvmYIQuQ
Caption: A white-field flag of an unknown "Free Syrian Army" sub-unit near
Beraan, Syria (north of Aleppo, Syria); Oct. 2016. Nazeer al-Khatib/AFP via
Getty Images
A fighter from the Free Syrian Army fires an anti-aircraft
machine gun mounted on a vehicle deployed during fighting against the Islamic
State near the northern village of Beraan, north of the embattled city of
Aleppo, Syria, Oct. 24, 2016. - Nazeer al-Khatib/AFP via Getty Images
Read more:
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/04/factional-infighting-escalates-northern-syria#ixzz7R77SW01C
William Garrison, 21 April 2022
![[Free Syrian Army sub-unit]](../images/s/sy^fsa-ac.jpg)
image
located by William Garrison, 14 November 2023
Flag of "Jaish al-Fatah" ( جيش الفتح) or the "Army of Conquest" was a joint command center of Sunni Islamist Syrian rebel factions' participation in the Syria Civil War (starting 2011). The Muslim "Declaration of Faith" shahada is shown above "Jaish al-Fatah" name.
Source:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLkkLldWUAIZnX6.jpg
William Garrison, 14 November 2023
![[Free Syrian Army sub-unit]](../images/s/sy^fsa-tb.jpg)
image
located by William Garrison, 10 February 2024
The flag of the "al-Tawhid Brigade" [Arabic: لواء التوحيد], Romanized: "Liwa al-Tahid", literally: "Brigade of Monotheism", named after the Arabic word "Tawhid" meaning the "oneness of Allah/God". This militia was an armed Islamist insurgent group involved in the "Syrian Civil War" against the government of Pres. Bashar Assad; c. 2013. See Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Tawhid_Brigade
Logo
![[Free Syrian Army sub-unit]](../images/s/sy^fsa-tb.gif)
image
located by William Garrison, 10 February 2024
