Active 2011 – present Headquarters Latakia | Leaders Mihraç Ural Strength 2,000 | |
 | ||
Ideology Socialist patriotism
Marxism–Leninism Area of operations Syria
Latakia Governorate
Homs Governorate,
Aleppo Governorate
Idlib Governorate | ||
The Syrian Resistance (Al Muqāwamat al-Sūriyah, Arabic: المقاومة السورية), formerly known as the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Sanjak of Iskandarun (Arabic: الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير لواء اســكندرون), is a pro-government Syrian armed group operating in northwest Syria, claiming a Marxist–Leninist ideology.
History
The movement is led by Mihraç Ural, a Turkish Alawite who has Syrian citizenship. Ali Kayyali (علي كيالي) was his name in Syria. According to Today's Zaman, Ural was the leader of a clandestine insurgent cell in Hatay Province called the Turkish Peoples' Liberation Party-Front Acilciler ("The Urgent Ones"). Zaman further alleged that Ural's group has sought to agitate Hatay's sizable Alawite population into confrontation with the Turkish authorities and has also recruited local Alawites to fight in Syria on behalf of the government.
Though the group openly espouses a broadly-inclusive platform of Syrian nationalism in addition to secular leftism, it has been claimed that its primary focus is the defence of the Alawite and Twelver Shi’a religious minorities of Syria. The Syrian Resistance has been accused by the Syrian opposition of being a sectarian Alawite militia, and of having carried out bombings and attacks in Turkey and on villages in Syria. Specifically, it has been accused of participating in the Bayda and Baniyas massacres, and footage shows Mihraç Ural rallying for the "cleansing" of Sunni coastal areas. However, Sheikh Muwaffaq al-Ghazal, a member of the Islamic Alawi Council, claims it has an inclusive national line regarding religion, race and gender.
On March 29, 2016, Mihraç Ural was reportedly killed by Ahrar al-Sham. However, his death has not been fully confirmed. On 10 July 2016 he disproved his death by live streaming on YouTube for two hours.
In late July 2016, the Syrian Resistance send reinforcement contingents from Hama to Aleppo in order to support the pro-government forces during the 2016 Aleppo campaign. In course of the campaign, they were deployed both in the northern city at the Castello road front, as well as in the south where rebel forces launched a counter-offensive.