Ahrar ash-Sham

Harakat Ahrar ash-Sham Al Islami (حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية Ahrār ash-Shām, meaning "Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant") is a coalition of Islamist and Salafist units which formed into a brigade during the Syrian civil war in order to fight against the Ba'athist government lead by Bashar al-Assad. Ahrar ash-Sham is led by Hassan Aboud. As of July 2013, it has 10,000 to 20,000 fighters, making it the most powerful unit fighting against al-Assad. It is the principal organisation operating under the umbrella of the Syrian Islamic Front.

Ideology and Structure
The groups founders were Islamist political prisoners who had been detained for years at the Sednaya prison until they were released as part of an amnesty by the Syrian Government in May 2011. When established in late 2011, Ahrar al-Sham consisted of about 25 rebel units spread across Syria. Since then it has expanded, in July 2012 the group's website listed 50 units, and in mid January 2013 the number had increased to 83 units. Most of these units are headquartered in villages in Idlib Governorate, but many others are located in Hama and Aleppo. Some Ahrar al-Sham units that have been involved in heavy fighting include the Qawafel al-Shuhada and Ansar al-Haqq Brigades (both in Khan Sheikhoun, Idleb Province), the al-Tawhid wal-Iman Brigade (Maarrat al-Nouman, Idleb Province), the Shahba Brigade (Aleppo City), the Hassane bin Thabet Brigade (Darat Ezza, Aleppo Province), and the Salahaddin and Abul-Fida Brigades (both in Hama City).

In its first audio address, Ahrar al-Sham stated its goal was to replace the Assad government with an Islamic state, however it acknowledged the need to take into account the population’s current state of mind. It also described the uprising as a jihad against a Safawi plot to spread Shiism and establish a Shiite state from Iran through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon and Palestine.

Members of the group are Islamists. Ahrar al-Sham cooperates with the Free Syrian Army and other secular rebel groups, however, it does not maintain ties with the SNC. Although they coordinate with other groups, they maintain their own strict and secretive leadership, receiving the majority of their funding and support from donors in Kuwait. The group has a Syrian leadership and "emphasizes that its campaign is for Syria, not for a global jihad".

Ahrar al-Sham has claimed that it only targets government forces and militia and that it has cancelled several operations due to fear of civilian casualties. It provides humanitarian services and relief to local communities, in addition to pamphlets promoting religious commitment in daily life.

As of June 2013, Ahrar al-Sham had become one of the most powerful rebel factions active in the Syrian Civil War, having being involved in every major rebel victory over Syrian Government forces since at least September 2012, including leading the capture of Ar-Raqqah in March 2013.

Through donations from supporters abroad and the capture of materiel from the Syrian Armed Forces, Ahrar al-Sham has become one of the best-armed insurgent groups in the country. Its operations have progressed from the use of Improvised Explosive Devices and small-arms ambushes in early 2012 to assuming a lead role in large-scale sustained assaults on multiple fronts by 2013. It regularly deploys tanks and mobile artillery, anti-tank guided missiles, and occasionally 1990s-era Croatian rocket and grenade launchers.

In August 2013, members of the brigade uploaded a video of a their downing of a Syrian Air Force MiG-21 over the Latakia province with a Chinese-made FN-6 MANPADS, apparently becoming the first recorded kill with such weapon.

Notable incidents
Ahrar al-Sham was responsible for rescuing NBC journalist Richard Engel and his crew after they were kidnapped by suspected Shabiha in December 2012.

In December 2012, a new umbrella organization was announced, called the Syrian Islamic Front, consisting of 11 Islamist rebel organizations. Ahrar al-Sham was the most prominent of these, and a member of Ahrar al-Sham's, Abu 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Suri, served as the Front's spokesman.

In January 2013, several of the member organizations of the Syrian Islamic Front announced that they were joining forces with Ahrar al-Sham into a broader group called Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya (The Islamic Movement of Ahrar al-Sham).