Helpers Brigades

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Helpers Brigades

Details Active: 2013-2014; 2016-2018 Area: Idlib and Hama Governorates Ideology: Moderate Sunni Islamism Part of: Idlib Liberation Front Operations Rooms: Idlib Revolutionary Council

The Helpers Brigades were a Free Syrian Army unit operating in southern Idlib and northern Hama governorates. It was formed in mid-2013 by Mithqal al-Abdullah. Originally part of the Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades, it left to help form the Syria Revolutionaries Front in December. Abdullah was one of the more popular SRF commanders, largely avoiding the corruption that consumed Jamal Maarouf of the Syrian Martyrs' Brigades. Nonetheless, some of his fighters were accused of using checkpoints to harass civilians. The United States began supplying the group with TOW anti-tank missiles in June 2014. Perhaps for this reason, it was one of the first groups to come under attack from Jabhat al-Nusra during the latter's offensive against the SRF in October. The jihadis' superior numbers and training quickly overwhelmed the Helpers Brigades, and Abdullah and many of his fighters fled. They would return and reform the group in January 2016 as part of the Idlib Liberation Front.