Strength 400 (February 2015) | Headquarters Syria | |
 | ||
Active 25 January 2014 – 1 March 2015 Leaders Salim Idris
Bilal Atar
Abdullah Awda
Hamza Shamali
Murshid al-Khalid
Mohammed al-Dahik Area of operations Aleppo Governorate
Idlib Governorate
Hama Governorate
Homs Governorate Became Levant Front (some members)
Army of Revolutionaries (some members) Areas of operations Aleppo Governorate, Idlib Governorate, Hama Governorate, Homs Governorate Battles and wars Syrian civil war, 2014 Idlib offensive, Battle of Aleppo, al-Nusra Front–SRF/Hazzm Movement conflict Opponents Syrian Armed Forces, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Al-Nusra Front Part of Free Syrian Army, Levant Front, Syrian Revolutionary Command Council | ||
The Hazzm Movement (Arabic: حركة حزم, Ḥarakat Ḥazzm, meaning Movement of Steadfastness) was an alliance of Syrian rebel groups affiliated with the Free Syrian Army in northwestern Syria that existed from 25 January 2014 until 1 March 2015, when many of them dissolved into the Levant Front. Some other members joined the Army of Revolutionaries.
Contents
History
In late 2013 the former Supreme Military Council chief of staff Salim Idris planned to form the Hazzm Movement in response him being sacked as the chief of staff. The Hazzm Movement was established on 25 January 2014 when 12 small rebel factions merged. Several of the factions had been part of the Farouq Brigades. The groups that became the Army of Mujahedeen were originally going to join the Hazzm Movement. The previous incarnation of the group, called Harakat Zaman Mohamed (The movement of the time of Muhammad), was supported by the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria.
The group was supplied with BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles in a covert CIA program launched in 2014. Scores of the group's fighters also received U.S. military training in Qatar under the same program.
In October 2014, the al-Nusra Front began attacking positions of the Hazzm Movement in the Idlib Governorate, overrunning bases and seizing weapon stores, due to its perceived closeness to the United States. 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. In January 2015, al-Nusra attacked Hazzm Movement positions in the Aleppo Governorate. 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.
On 1 March 2015, after several heavy clashes with the al-Nusra Front, the Hazzm Movement announced they were dissolving into the Levant Front. However, the Levant Front later threatened the Hazzm members, vowing to hunt down their commanders for being "corrupt criminals", ordering their fighters to pledge to "continue jihad" and to not fight together with "corrupt criminals". Some Hazm Movement members in Atarib joined Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki and the Ansar Brigade, then also part of the Levant Front.
On 5 May 2015, some former members of the Hazzm Movement, including the Atarib Martyrs Brigade, and the allied Syria Revolutionaries Front based in the north, as well as smaller FSA groups, joined the newly-formed Army of Revolutionaries. However, the Atarib Martyrs Brigade left Jaysh al-Thuwar in 2016 to join the Army of Mujahideen in May.
During the Turkish military intervention in Syria which began in late August 2016, some former members of the Hazzm Movement and the Syrian Revolutionaries Front from Turkey participated in the operation under the flags of other rebel factions in Jarabulus.
In late December 2016, the Hazzm Movement, the SRF, and the Ansar Brigades in exile reportedly declared their intentions to return to Syria.
Component groups and structure
The Hazzm Movement had a northern division, led by Murshid al-Khalid (Abu al-Mutassim), and a southern division led by Mohammed al-Dahik (Abu Hatem). The Secretary-General was Bilal Atar (Abu Abd al-Sham). Abdullah Awda (Abu Zeid) was in charge of military operations and Hamza Shamali (Abu Hashem) in charge of political affairs.
The 12 groups that merged on 25 January 2014 to form the Hazzm Movement were:
Several other groups joined the Hazzm Movement at a later date.
9th Division of Aleppo
The 9th Division of Aleppo is a Syrian rebel group formerly affiliated with the rebel Syria Revolutionaries Front coalition and joined the Hazm Movement in January 2014. It is headed by Murshid al-Khaled (Aboul-Moutassem).
Furthermore, the group is further composed of several additional subgroups before the merger: