Jabhat al-Akrad

Jabhat al-Akrad (جبهة الأكراد), also known as the Kurdish Front Brigade (لواء جبهة الأكراد لنصرة شعبنا السوري Liwa' Jabhat al-'Akrad l-Nusrah Shaʿbnā al-Sūrī, Kurdish Front Brigade to Protect the Syrian People, Cebhet El-Ekrad), is a predominantly Kurdish armed faction participating in the Syrian civil war.

The group was originally formed as a brigade of the Free Syrian Army by Kurdish and Arab defectors from the Syrian Army. It has also maintained close ties to the PKK-linked Democratic Union Party (PYD) since its founding, including military coordination with its armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG). Jabhat al-Akrad operates in Kurdish and ethnically-mixed areas in Syria's Aleppo and Raqqa provinces, mainly outside of the quasi-autonomous Kurdish enclaves in Kurd Dagh, Jazira, and the Ayn al-Arab (Kobanê) area which are controlled by the YPG. These areas include the countryside north and east of Aleppo city, Aleppo city itself, the area of Tall Abyad in northern Raqqa province, and Raqqa city itself.

Jabhat al-Akrad was expelled from the FSA Aleppo Military Council on 16 August 2013 due to alleged PKK affiliations amid widespread clashes in northern Syria between predominantly Sunni Arab rebel groups—led by units affiliated to al-Qaida—and Kurdish militia led by the YPG.