February 2015 Briefs

February 2015 Briefs

THREE NEW COMMANDERS COALESCE TO FORM SYRIAN REBEL AL-JAYSH AL-AWAL FORMATION

Nicholas A. Heras

A new component of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was recently created. Al-Jaysh al-Awal (First Army) was formed in January 2015 by combining Farqa al-Hamza, al-Fawaj al-Awal Madfa’iya (1st Artillery Regiment) and Jabhat Thuwar Sooria al-Qata al-Janoobi (Syrian Revolutionaries’ Front Southern Section— SRFSS). Al-Jaysh al-Awal supposedly has 15 constituent battalions and over 10,000 fighters. It was formed in order to create the core of a unified army for the constituent armed groups of the Southern Front coalition, which is affiliated with the FSA, and to coordinate these groups’ operations from Damascus southward to the Syrian-Golan and Syrian-Jordanian borders (al-Mustaqbal [Beirut], January 3; al-Jazeera [Doha], January 2; Orient News [Dubai], January 2; YouTube, January 1).

Colonel Saber Safer, who has emerged as one of the most important rebel leaders in the Southern Front and the greater FSA, commands al-Jaysh al-Awal. Major Abd al-Latif al-Hawrani, the leader of al-Fawaj al-Awal Madfa’iya, and Captain Abu Hamza al-Nu’iymi, who leads the SRFSS, serve as Colonel Safer’s deputy commanders in al-Jaysh al-Awal. All three are defected Syrian military officers and important rebel leaders within the Southern Front. They are believed to share Safer’s stated vision for a more formally organized rebel force with better command-and-control and institutional coherence. [1]

Sabir Safer

Colonel Safer is a native of the large town of Inkhil in Dara’a’s al-Sanamayn district. He publicly supports a pluralistic Syria and asserts that the FSA is a real army that represents all Syrians (YouTube, October 22, 2014). Over the course of the Syrian civil war, Safer has served as the commanding officer of increasingly larger and more operationally coordinated rebel organizations, starting with Liwa Hamza Assad Allah (Hamza Lion of God Brigade). Liwa Hamza Assad Allah was a local armed opposition coalition that was subordinate to the FSA’s Dara’a Military Council and operated predominately in Inkhil and its surrounding areas in al-Sanamayn district (YouTube, April 8, 2013). Safer later led Liwa Hamza Assad Allah into al-Farqa al-Hamza (Hamza Division), expanding the geographic range of his group’s operations while making Liwa Hamza Assad Allah the flag unit of this larger rebel organization (YouTube, March 24, 2014; YouTube, October 5, 2014).

Abd al-Latif al-Hawrani

Major al-Hawrani, a native of Dara’a city, is an artillery officer who defected from the Syrian military in May 2012. [2] Following his defection, he emerged as an energetic leader within the FSA in Dara’a governorate, including serving as the overall commander of a joint operations room for rebel forces in the different regions of southern Syria (YouTube, February 1, 2014). Under Major al-Hawrani’s active leadership in the field, al-Fawaj al-Awal Madfa’iya has participated in battles against the Syrian military and its auxiliary forces in battles throughout Dara’a. [3] Al-Fawaj al-Awal Madfa’iya supports frontline Syrian armed opposition groups with mobile artillery support via mortars and surface-to-surface rockets and has been a recipient of TOW anti-tank missiles. The group also directly pressures Syrian military and auxiliary bases, checkpoints and positions with its bombardment.

Abu Hamza al-Nu’iymi

Captain al-Nu’iymi is the military commander of Jabhat Thuwar Sooria al-Qata al-Janoobi. He first led Saraya al-Murabiteen (Brigades of the Stationed), a constituent armed opposition group within the al-Quneitra section of the now defunct Alwiya Afhaad al-Rasul (Descendants of the Prophet Brigades) umbrella organization. Alwiya Afhaad al-Rasul was an independent, ideologically Islamist rebel coalition operating throughout Syria that maintained a strong working relationship with the FSA and other armed opposition factions, including Salafist groups such as Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiya and the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra (Fair Observer, May 19, 2013). In keeping with his role within Alwiya Afhaad al-Rasul, Al-Nu’iymi is considered to be an important intermediary between FSA-aligned groups and militant Salafist groups in southern al-Quneitra governorate and northwestern Dara’a governorates, as these organizations occupy the same battle space and occasionally coordinate attacks against the Syrian military and its auxiliaries. [4]

In February 2014, Captain al-Nu’iymi merged Saraya al-Murabiteen into Jamal Maarouf’s organization Jabhat Thuwar Sooria, a move made by several other constituent groups of Alwiya Afhaad al-Rasul in al-Quneitra and northern Dara’a governorates and in the western suburbs of Damascus. Al-Nu’iymi emerged as the overall commander of its southern branch (YouTube, February 4, 2014). He is also an important spokesperson with the Arab media for the Southern Front in regard to the rebel organization’s operations in northeastern Dara’a and southern al-Quneitra governorates (YouTube, June 15, 2014; YouTube, May 5, 2014; YouTube, February 19, 2014; YouTube, October 20, 2013).

Syrian Regime Response

Prior to the announcement of al-Jaysh al-Awal’s formation, Safer led Farqa al-Hamza’s participation in a joint operations room with al-Fawaj al-Awal Madfa’iya and Jabhat Thuwar Sooria al-Qata al-Janoobi that focused on operations in northwestern Dara’a. The successful rebel campaign, which seized control of several strategic hillsides and villages in areas of northwestern Dara’a and southern al-Quneitra governorates that are adjacent to major highways leading into the Damascus suburbs, was a major factor leading to the current Syrian military campaign (YouTube, January 25; YouTube, November 16, 2014).

The Syrian military is currently targeting rebel-held areas in al-Quneitra and Dara’a governorates that are strategically located on major routes of supply and reinforcement for rebel groups fighting for control of the country’s capital, Damascus (al-Araby al-Jadeed [London], February 19; al-Mudun [Beirut], February 12). This campaign is reportedly being led on the ground by Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fighters and is being contested by a number of Syrian armed opposition organizations, including al-Jaysh al-Awal, other constituent factions of the Southern Front and the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra (al-Manar [East Jerusalem], February 17; Daily Star [Beirut], February 14; al-Ghad [Amman], February 13; al-Araby al-Jadeed [London], February 8; Orient News [Dubai], February 7).

Conclusion

Safer is one of the most important commanders in the Southern Front, making him one of the most important FSA leaders left in the Syrian civil war. As a former officer in the Syrian military and a seasoned, committed armed opposition commander, Safer has emerged as a spokesperson championing the currently pluralistic objectives of the Southern Front. He is also publicly articulating his objective to make al-Jaysh al-Awal the core of an opposition security force, or as he called it, a “real army,” with the implied intent of creating better command-and-control and institutional values for this force. Safer’s aim, if genuine, could make al-Jaysh al-Awal an attractive and primary recipient for foreign assistance as the United States and its allies expand a train-and-equip program for the Syrian armed opposition.

Under Major al-Hawrani’s command, al-Fawaj al-Awal Madfa’iya brings to al-Jaysh al-Awal an experienced and trusted armed opposition group that has a military specialization and artillery, which will be critical to force the withdrawal of isolated Syrian military units and their auxiliaries from southern Syria as well as for future rebel campaigns against Damascus. Through the leadership of Captain al-Nu’iymi, Jabhat Thuwar Sooria al-Qata al-Janoobi provides al-Jaysh al-Awal access to strong social and tribal networks throughout al-Quneitra and northwestern Dara’a governorates and into the southern and western suburbs of Damascus. The participation of al-Fawaj al-Awal Madfa’iya and Jabhat Thuwar Sooria al-Qata al-Janoobi in al-Jaysh al-Awal is important to the potential long-term success of the rebel organization as it plans to try to consolidate rebel organization and control in southern Syria and to spearhead an armed opposition campaign to pressure the al-Assad government in Damascus and its suburbs.

Notes

1. Skype correspondence between the author and two Syrian activists with close ties to the Southern Front, February 13 and 20, 2015.

2. Ibid.

3. See Feras alhorani and asa3ddaraa YouTube pages for extensive footage of al-Fawaj al-Awal Madfa’iya operations.

4. Skype correspondence, op. cit.