Farouq Brigades
Farouq Brigades | |
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كتائب الفاروق | |
Syrian Civil War
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The Farouq Brigades (
History
The Farouq Brigades emerged from the central city of
In the following months, Farouq absorbed preexisting rebel units and formed new ones across Syria, from Daraa in the south near the Jordanian border to the Farouq al-Shemal (Northern Farouq) which controlled some of the border posts in the north with Turkey.[7]
In September 2012, a large number of
Ideology and funding
Jeffrey White, a former U.S. defense intelligence officer with the
Farouq has their own public relations wing which film their battlefield operations and upload them to YouTube and Facebook with their groups logo. These clips are used for fundraising from Syrians, donors in Gulf states, Western sources and Islamist groups.[14]
Controversies
In April 2012, the Farouq Brigades was accused of collecting
In September 2012, the northern branch of the Farouq Brigades was accused of kidnapping and killing Abu Mohamad al-Absi, a Syrian Jihadist who led a group of foreign fighters. The local Farouq Brigades leader said the foreign fighters had ignored their demands to leave the Bab al-Hawa border post. He said that al-Absi had "raised the al-Qaeda flag, and al-Qaeda is not welcomed by us".[7]
In May 2013, a video was posted on the internet showing rebel commander Abu Sakkar cutting organs from the dead body of a Syrian soldier and putting one of them in his mouth, "as if he is taking a bite out of it". He called rebels to follow his example and terrorize the Alawite sect, which mostly backs Assad. Human Rights Watch confirmed the authenticity of the footage, and stated that "The mutilation of the bodies of enemies is a war crime. But the even more serious issue is the very rapid descent into sectarian rhetoric and violence". It said that Abu Sakkar appears to be a commander of the "Independent Omar al-Farouq Brigade". The BBC called it an offshoot or sub-unit of the Farouq Brigades, saying that "the Farouq Brigade appears to be actually a complex of sub-units with a tangled pedigree".[4] Human Rights Watch said "It is not known whether the Independent Omar al-Farouq Brigade operates within the command structure of the Free Syrian Army". The incident was condemned by the FSA's Chief of Staff and the Syrian National Coalition said that the commander would be put on trial.[19][20] The rebel Supreme Military Council called for Abu Sakkar's arrest, saying it wants him "dead or alive". Abu Sakkar said that the mutilation was revenge. He claimed he found a video on the soldier's cellphone in which the soldier sexually abuses a woman and her two daughters,[21] along with other videos showing Assad loyalists raping, torturing, dismembering and killing people, including children.[22] He further stated that if the war was to continue, "all Syrian people" would be like him.[23] He was killed in northwest Latakia province on 6 April 2016 by the Syrian Army, while being affiliated to the al-Qaeda linked Al-Nusra Front.[24]
In November 2016 in
Decline
By November 2013, the Farouq Brigades was reported as having suffered a serious decline in strength and area of influence, with it having splintered into numerous smaller factions,
After 2015, the remnants of the Farouq Brigades only officially operated around the town of Binnish, in the Idlib District of the Idlib Governorate. On 1 February 2017, they joined Ahrar al-Sham.[29] In northern Hama, other remnants under the banner of the Farouq Brigade joined Tahrir al-Sham on 20 March 2017.[30]
See also
- List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
References
- ^ a b Aron Lund (17 June 2013). "Freedom fighters? Cannibals? The truth about Syria's rebels". The Independent. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ a b Lund, Aron (15 October 2012). "Holy Warriors". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "FSA Denies Shelling Hizbullah Positions in Lebanon, Syria". Naharnet. 21 February 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ a b c d Jonathan Marcus (14 May 2013). "Gruesome Syria video pinpoints West's dilemma". BBC. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ a b "A new dialogue and collaboration in northern Syria between kurds and rebels". The Arab Chronicle. Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
- ^ The Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham Expands Into Rural Northern Syria :: Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
- ^ a b c d Abouzeid, Rania (5 October 2012). "Syria's Up-and-Coming Rebels: Who Are the Farouq Brigades?". Time. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ Foreign Policy. 21 November 2013. Archived from the originalon 5 July 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ Huffington Post. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
- ^ a b Holliday, Joseph. "Syria's Armed Opposition" (PDF). Institute for the Study of War.
- ^ "Syria's Islamist rebels join forces against Assad". Reuters. 11 October 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "Leading Syrian rebel groups form new Islamic Front". BBC. 22 November 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ Ackerman, Spencer (16 October 2012). "Syrian Rebels Burn Down a Marijuana Field on Facebook". Wired. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "Battle for Syria: on the ground with the Farouk brigade". Channel 4 News. 11 September 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ Holliday, Joseph. "Syria's Maturing Insurgency" (PDF). Institute for the Study of War.
- ^ "Abuse of the opposition forces, "ethnic cleansing" of Christians in Homs, where Jesuits remains". Agenzia Fides. 21 March 2012. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "The Jesuits: "Christians have fled from Homs, not thrown out by Islamists"". Agenzia Fides. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "Are Islamists targeting Christians in Homs? Catholic groups dispute cause of exodus". Catholic Culture. 27 March 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "Syria: Brigade Fighting in Homs Implicated in Atrocities". Human Rights Watch. 13 May 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "Outrage at Syrian rebel shown 'eating soldier's heart'". BBC. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "Exclusive: 'We Will Slaughter All of Them.' The Rebel Behind The Syrian Atrocity Video". Time. 14 May 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "Syrian 'cannibal' rebel explains his actions". The Daily Telegraph. 19 May 2013. Archived from the original on 20 May 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "Syrian 'cannibal' rebel explains his actions". The Telegraph. 19 May 2013. Archived from the original on 20 May 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
- ^ Chris Hughes, Sam Webb (6 April 2016). "Al-Qaeda 'cannibal' Abu Sakkar who ate Syrian soldier's heart in gruesome video killed in combat". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
- ^ "For the first time a murder case for acts in Syria". Tirol. 10 November 2016.
- ^ "Austrian court jails asylum seeker for war crimes in Syria". Time. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
- ^ "Kata'ib al-Farouq al-Islamiya: A Key Armed Opposition Group in the Battle to Cut Assad Off from Damascus". Jamestown Foundation. 19 September 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "Syria crisis: Guide to armed and political opposition". BBC News. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
- ^ "Farouk Brigades Joins Ahrar Al-Sham Movement". Qasioun News Agency. 1 February 2017. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
- ^ Paul Antonopoulos (21 March 2017). "FSA-affiliated group joins Al-Qaeda coalition; making it the largest militant group in Syria". Al-Masdar News. Archived from the original on 23 March 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
External links
- Farouq Brigades on Twitter(in Arabic)