Strength 10,000–15,000 Battles and wars Syrian civil war | Founded 2013 | |
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Ideology Non-ideological (overall group)
Secularism (some groups)
Islamic democracy (some groups) Groups Coming Victory Brigade
7th Division
Riyad al-Salehin Battalions of Damascus
Special Assignments Regiment of Damascus
Helpers Brigades
Southern Sword Division
Martyr Captain Abu Hamza al-Naimi Union Leaders Jamal Maarouf (overall leader, northern branch)
Col. Afif Sulaiman (Idlib commander, resigned July 2014)
Capt. Abu Hamza al-Naimi † (southern branch) Area of operations Daraa Governorate, Quneitra Governorate, Rif Dimashq Governorate, and Damascus Governorate, Syria Headquarters Quneitra Governorate, Syria Allies Al-Nusra Front, Islamic Front (formerly), Army of Mujahideen (formerly), Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (formerly) Areas of operations Daraa Governorate, Quneitra Governorate, Rif Dimashq Governorate, Damascus Governorate Opponents Syrian Armed Forces, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, Jund al-Aqsa Part of Southern Front, First Army (inactive) | ||
The Syrian Revolutionaries Front (Arabic: جبهة ثوار سوريا, Jabhat Thowar Suriya, SRF, also translated Syrian Rebel Front) is, according to Lebanon's Daily Star, an alliance of 14 more secular rebel brigades fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, formed in December 2013, thus according to Arutz Sheva further sidelining the FSA and its leadership Supreme Military Council. It was established as a response to the merger of Islamist Syrian rebels into the Islamic Front.
History
Following initial clashes, the Islamic Front and the Syrian Revolutionaries Front agreed to reconcile later that month. The coalition is spearheaded by Jamal Maarouf, head of the Syrian Martyrs' Brigade, a member of the SRF based in Jabal Zawiya, Idlib Governorate. The group has supported the Geneva II Middle East peace conference that is aimed at resolving the Syrian civil war. The group has received financial support from Saudi Arabia, while the United States has reportedly given the group only non-lethal aid like food, medicine and blankets, in part due to concerns over its involvement in smuggling and extortion.
100 members of the SRF's Wolves of al-Ghab Brigade were killed in clashes with al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front near Jisr al-Shughur on 16 July 2014.
In late October 2014 clashes erupted again between the SRF and al-Nusra in the Jabal al-Zawiya region of Idlib, over the following days, dozens of SRF fighters defected to Nusra and the group lost control of numerous villages as they withdrew their forces from the region. Maarouf and some of his followers relocated to Turkey, however around half of his men in the region remained behind and accepted the change of control rather than fight.
On 5 May 2015, some of the former members of the Hazzm Movement, the Syria Revolutionaries Front based in the north, Jabhat al-Akrad, the Dawn of Freedom Brigades and smaller FSA groups formed the Army of Revolutionaries. Many of their northern members also dissolved into the Levant Front.
The group only now remains active in southern Syria, as a member of a Southern Front group, the First Army. On 2 March 2016, a car bomb explosion targeted the SRF headquarters in Quneitra and killed its commander Captain Abu Hamza al-Naimi and 4 other field commanders.
During the Turkish military intervention in Syria which started in late August 2016, some members of the Syrian Revolutionaries Front and the Hazm Movement in exile from Turkey crossed into Syria through Jarabulus.