Allies Al-Nusra Front | ||
Active 30 September 2015 – present Leaders Abu Muwaffaq al-Shami (commander-in-chief)
Abu Mohsen al-Qalamouni (military commander)
Col. Abdullah al-Rifai † (Western Qalamoun Union)
Capt. Firas Ibn Bitar (Levant Liberation Army)
Zuhair Mohammad (LLA second-in-command) Area of operations Damascus Governorate
Rif Dimashq Governorate Part of Free Syrian Army
Southern Front Opponents Syrian Armed Forces
Hezbollah | ||
Saraya Ahl al-Sham (Arabic: سرايا أهل الشام, "Company of the People of the Levant") is a rebel alliance active during the Syrian Civil War. It was formed in 2015 and operates in the Rif Dimashq Governorate, mainly in the western Qalamoun Mountains along the Lebanon–Syria border.
Contents
Member groups
History
The Tahrir al-Sham Division joined the Southern Front on 14 February 2014.
In November 2014, Colonel Abdullah al-Rifai of the 11th Special Forces Division of the Free Syrian Army was arrested by the Lebanese Armed Forces near Arsal. He was detained by the General Directorate of General Security and released on 2 January 2015. On 14 August, he was assassinated in Arsal.
On 30 September 2015, Saraya Ahl al-Sham was formed by more than 13 FSA and Islamist rebel factions in the western Qalamoun Mountains. The group maintained "good" relations with al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front and other groups in the former Army of Conquest's Qalamoun branch.
In February 2016, it rejected the inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian Civil War against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, remaining neutral in the conflict and stating that its only opponent is the Syrian government. However, during the eastern Qalamoun offensive (September—October 2016), the group joined with the other rebels in fighting ISIL.
In February 2017, negotiations between Saraya Ahl al-Sham and Hezbollah began in order to install a ceasefire and for residents to return to the contest towns and villages between Hezbollah and the rebels.