The official logo of the Ahrar al-Sham Movement.
The Ahrar al-Sham Movement, which stood once as one of the largest rebel factions in Syria, appears to be nearing its end.
On August 7, four of the movement’s largest units, the Badr Brigade, al-Abbas Brigade, al-Sharqi Groups and Aleppo Gathering, announced their defection. In a joint statement, the four units revealed that they left Ahrar al-Sham on July 17.
The units joined the al-Shamiya Front, one of the largest Turkish-backed groups and a member of the Syrian National Army.
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Last year, a series of internal conflicts wreaked the movement, which ruled over vast parts of Syria in the early years of the war.
The movement’s leader, back then, Jaber Ali Basha had a fall out with Inad Darwish, “Abu al-Munzier,” the commander of the military wing and Hassan Soufan, a former commander, who wanted greater coordination with al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahir al-Sham (HTS).
Soufan and Darwish launched a campaign to sack Basha and his affiliates with direct support of HTS, the de-facto ruler of Greater Idlib. The mutinous seized many of Ahrar al-Sham’s headquarters and positions in the region.
A “power-sharing” agreement was later reached. Abu Yahiya al-Hamui, also known as “al-Qalaa,” was appointed as the new Commander-in-Chief of the movement.
Muhanad al-Masri, aka Abu Yahiya al-Hamui.
Nevertheless, Soufan and Darwish maintained strong influence within Ahrar al-Sham. The two became to be seen by many of the movement’s commanders, fighters and supporters as a front for HTS and its leader, Abu Mohamad al-Julani.
HTS, which fought Ahrar al-Sham on several occasions in the past, appears to be now in control of what’s left of the movement in Greater Idlib.
The Ahrar al-Sham Movement has lost most of its commanders, fighters and supporters. Even the movements’ ideology and principles were changed last year to appease HTS. It is safe to say that today only the name of the movement is still alive. Even the name will not likely stand for too long.
So they have defected from one collaborationist gang to a bigger gang backed by the Turks,just shoot bomb and incinerate the Apes wherever they are found.
Europe, especially owes Russia and Iran a great debt for destroying these vile terrorists. Average brainwashed European has no idea the havoc these Wahhabi indoctrinated savages would have wreaked if the SAA, backed up by Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and the Shia crescent had not drawn a proverbial line in the sand, albeit as a great cost. These savages would have turned the world upside down if they had gotten hold of a country at such a critical geo-political fault line as Syria. President Assad has also shown great mettle for standing up to this existential terrorist threat.
The problem is those Western Countries led by the US have been supporting those savages for years,as long as they attack Countries that won’t cave in to US Imperial diktat,they supported them in the Balkan war and in Kosovo,then when they get blowback from those Apes in their own Countries they scream blue murder,its happened in my Country and other Western Countries.
For the west and Zionists these terrorists are a strategic tool as very accurately described by Dr. Christopher Davidson in his very well researched book SHADOW WARS on how the UK and US in particular fanned the Salafist Wahhabi murderous cult to sow sectarianism in the wider Muslim world and use it as an extension of their imperialist military adventurism. It is no coincidence that the Wahhabi cult was created by the British in the corrupt Bedouin Saudi clan run part of Arabia and the British Wahhabi colonies of Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
The whole regional power balance has shifted to the Axis of Resistance and Russian position has also hardened. For a decade now these western, Zionist and Turkish sponsored Saudi, Qatari and UAE funded Salafist, Wahhabi and Takfiri terrorist groups have waged a futile brutal murder and mayhem campaign against Syrian people and achieved nothing in strategic and military terms. The Turkish and Zionist goal was to quickly overthrow the progressive popular elected government of Dr. Bashar al Assad and replace it with a US and Zionist puppet state divided between Turkey and Zionist regime.
However, Iranian assistance commencing 2012, followed by very effective Russian air campaign since 2015 put a damper on their plans. Now it is too late, President Assad or his son will be power in Syria by the time President Putin retires in 2036. These terrorists have wasted their lives and future for nothing. Syria will be stabilized in a few years and the Wahhabi terrorist pool has shrunk. Russians, SAA and Iranians have killed at least 300,000 of the half a million terrorists trained and armed by the west. The Syrian government and the Axis of Resistance has won the day.
Ahrar al Sham was one of ISIS’ closest collaborators in 2014. It then overnight morphed into an “enemy of ISIS” in 2015, calling ISIS “apostates”. It is like its zionist overlords. It will do anything and say anything to survive.
Oy vey, all the CIAmossad money went puff, oy oy…
Maybe say “so-called Syrian National Army” to avoid confusion with the SAA, which these goons most definitely are not. Probably the name was chosen exactly to encourage that confusion. Is this even different from the Free Syrian Army or are they simply different translations? Haven’t been keeping up for a while.
I don’t think there’s any “Free” (more accurately ‘Fee” and “Flee,” or even “Flea”) Syrian Army any longer.
Thank you Russia, Dr. Assad, Iran and Hezbollah for wiping out the Wahhabi scum.
So they are going to drop the old name and stop pretending to be anything other than Turkish owned mercenaries.