Leaders Colonel Bakur Salim al-Salim †
Captain Ahmad Tamer Area of operations Rif Dimashq Governorate Part of Free Syrian Army
Southern Front Allies Revolutionary Commando Army
Army of Free Tribes
Jaysh Usud al-Sharqiya
Jaysh al-Islam Opponents Syrian Armed Forces
National Defense Force
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Battles and wars Syrian Civil War
2016 Abu Kamal offensive
Eastern Qalamoun offensive (September–October 2016)
2017 Southern Syrian Desert offensive | ||
The Forces of Martyr Ahmad al-Abdo is a Syrian rebel group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army's Southern Front. The group is named after either Ahmad al-Abdo al-Saeed, a Syrian civilian who was killed in the early 2011 protests, or Lieutenant Ahmad al-Abdo, a rebel commander who was killed in action during the war.
Contents
Structure and equipment
Fighters in the group typically operate in groups of 10. Its main equipment are Toyota Land Cruiser and Toyota Hilux gun trucks mounted with various weaponry including autocannons, heavy machine guns, recoilless rifles, and multiple rocket launchers. It also operate at least 1 T-62 and 2 T-55s.
The group received BGM-71 TOW missiles as one of the first rebel groups to do so in May 2014 and is also in possession of Chinese HJ-8 and Russian 9M133 Kornet anti-tank missiles paid by Qatar and supplied from Sudan.
History
The group was involved in the capture of the Brigade 559 and the siege of Dumayr airbase. It primarily operates in the eastern Qalamoun Mountains and northern Damascus countryside regions. In March 2016 the group and the US-backed New Syrian Army captured the al-Tanf border crossing from ISIL in a cross-border raid.
On 9 June 2016, the group's leader, Colonel Bakour Salim, who was also the commander of the Damascus Military Council from 2012 to 2013, died from an ISIL suicide bombing after the group advanced and captured several ISIL positions. Later in June, the FMAA and the NSA were hit by airstrikes from 2 Russian Sukhoi Su-34s and participated in the failed 2016 Abu Kamal offensive against ISIL.
A new commander, Captain Ahmad Tamer, was appointed on 30 August 2016 after the previous commander was dismissed for alleged corruption.