Hassan Soufan

Hassan Soufan
Hassan Soufan
Birth name	Hassan Soufan
Nickname(s)	Abu al-Bara
Born	1977; Syrian Civil War Syrian Liberation Front–Tahrir al-Sham conflict; Northwestern Syria offensive (April–August 2019);

Hassan Soufan, also known by his

Syrian Civil War. He was the appointed as the leader of Ahrar al-Sham and held the position from July 2017 until his resignation in August 2018. He also served as the general commander of the Syrian Liberation Front

, assuming the post in early 2018.

Biography

Early life

Hassan Soufan was born in the year 1977 in the coastal Syrian city of Latakia and had fully memorized the Quran at a young age.

Pre-war activities

Soufan had received a degree in economics from the

ISIL. A former fellow prisoner who knew Soufan who has become an activist has described Soufan as a moderate saying he disagrees with the approaches and positions taken by al-Nusra and ISIL but does not intend on fighting them or any other Islamic factions and he is against infighting, and views issue such as Takfir as among the most complex issues in Islamic theology. The activist also claimed that Soufan's ideology is the same as Ahrar al-Sham's early leadership.^[2]

Syrian Civil War

He was released from prison in late-December 2016 following a prisoner swap between the Syrian government and the rebels, and was appointed the leader of Ahrar al-Sham in mid-2017.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham shortly after its formation in February 2018.^[4] In August 2018 he resigned from his position as the leader of Ahrar al-Sham.^{[citation needed}

]

In May 2019, he resigned from his position as the leader of the National Front for Liberation as well as his position in Ahrar al-Sham for unknown reasons, he stated the reasons were personal, he also stated he was committed to fighting and would continue to participate in the Syrian Civil War.[5]

References

^ "Why Ahrar al-Sham couldn't stand up to HTS's attack in Idlib". Syria From Within - Chatham House.
^ al-Omar, Saleem (13 September 2017). "Ahrar al-Sham Tries to Catch its Breath Under New Leader Hassan Soufan". Atlantic Council.
^ Andrew Illingworth (2 August 2017). "Ahrar al-Sham appoints new leader in Syria". Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
^ "Ahrar al-Sham, Nour al-Din al-Zenki unify against Syrian regime". DailySabah. 20 February 2018.
^ Charles Lister [@Charles_Lister] (31 May 2019). "Former #Ahrar al-Sham leader Hassan Soufan has announced his resignation "for special reasons" from Ahrar & the #NLF's leadership council -- though he says he'll remain "a fighter" in the "blessed revolution."" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[1] "Why Ahrar al-Sham couldn't stand up to HTS's attack in Idlib". Syria From Within - Chatham House.

[2] -Omar, Saleem (13 September 2017). "Ahrar al-Sham Tries to Catch its Breath Under New Leader Hassan Soufan". Atlantic Council.

[3] Andrew Illingworth (2 August 2017). "Ahrar al-Sham appoints new leader in Syria". Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2019.

[4] "Ahrar al-Sham, Nour al-Din al-Zenki unify against Syrian regime". DailySabah. 20 February 2018.

[5] Charles Lister [@Charles_Lister] (31 May 2019). "Former #Ahrar al-Sham leader Hassan Soufan has announced his resignation "for special reasons" from Ahrar & the #NLF's leadership council -- though he says he'll remain "a fighter" in the "blessed revolution."" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[2]

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