Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades

From World War J
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This is an alternate history wiki. It mixes fact and fiction, and should not be mistaken for a reliable source.

Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades

Details
Active: 2012-2014; 2017-2018
Area: all governorates except Homs and Tartus (2012-2014)
Rif Dimashq, Raqqa, and Deir ez-Zor Governorates (2017-2018)
Ideology: Sunni Islamism (mostly moderate)
Part of: Free Syrian Army (2017-2018)
Operations Rooms: Damascus Liberation Forces
Euphrates Islamic Liberation Front


The Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades were a prominent Syrian rebel group. Founded in July 2012 in the Damascus area, Ahfad al-Rasul quickly spread across the country, incorporating affiliates and creating new ones. By mid-2013, the group was active in almost all rebel areas. It was the single largest rebel group not affiliated with the Syrian Islamic Liberation Front, Syrian Islamic Front, al-Nusra Front, or ISIS. Ideologically speaking, the Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades were Islamist to varying degrees depending on the subunit. Some affiliates, such as those fighting in al-Hasakah against the YPG, were hardline Salafis, while others, such as those in Daraa, represented more moderate Sufis. This disparity strained the group's cohesion and, combined with dwindling foreign funds and battlefield losses to ISIS in eastern Syria, contributed to its dissolution by early 2014. Most of its affiliates in Daraa and Quneitra joined the Syria Revolutionary Front's Southern Sector; some northwestern affiliates became prominent FSA groups, like the Brigade of the Chargers and the Falcons of Mount Zawiya Brigade; the hardline Hama affiliate became Ajnad al-Sham; still other affiliates broke up and joined other groups. In DATE TBD 2017, some former Ahfad al-Rasul fighters reunited and reformed the group to take part in the expulsion of the Islamic Emirate of the Levant from eastern Syria. By the end of the war these fighters were active in eastern Rif Dimashq, southern Raqqa, and southern Deir ez-Zor governorates.