Ahrar al-Sham started forming units just after the Egyptian revolution of 2011.of January 2011, and before the civil uprising phase of the Syrian Civil War Which started in March 2011.[6] Most of the group's founders were Salafist political prisoners who had been detained for years at the Sednaya prison .until they were released as part of an amnesty by the Syrian Government in March–May 2011.[6][16][17] At the time of its establishment in December 2011.[7]
Ahrar al-Sham consisted of about 25 rebel units spread across Syria. On 23 January 2012, the Ahrar al-Sham Battalions was officially announced in the Idlib Governorate. In the same announcement, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on the security headquarters in the city of Idlib. "To all the free people of Syria, we announce the formation of the Free Ones of the Levant Battalions," the statement said, according to a translation obtained by the Long War Journal. "We promise God, and then we promise you, that we will be a firm shield and a striking hand to repel the attacks of this criminal Al Assad army with all the might we can muster. We promise to protect the lives of civilians and their possessions from security and the Shabiha pro-government militia. We are a people who will either gain victory or die.".[18]
By July 2012, the group's website listed 50 units, and by mid-January 2013, the number had increased to 83 units.[19] Most of these units are headquartered in villages in Idlib Governorate, but many others are located in Hama Governorate and Aleppo Governorates. Some Ahrar al-Sham units that have been involved in heavy fighting include the Qawafel al-Shuhada and Ansar al-Haqq Brigades (both in Khan Shaykhun), the al-Tawhid wal-Iman Brigade (Maarat al-Nu'man, Idlib), the Shahba Brigade (Aleppo City), the Hassane bin Thabet Brigade (Darat Izza, Aleppo), and the Salahaddin and Abul-Fida Brigades (both in Hama City).[1]
Members of the group are Sunni Islamists.[20] Ahrar al-Sham cooperates with the Free Syrian Army; however, it does not maintain ties with the Syrian National Council...[21] Although they coordinate with other groups, they maintain their own strict and secretive leadership, receiving the majority of their funding and support from donors in Kuwait.[22][23]
Ahrar al-Sham was credited for rescuing NBC News team including reporter Richard Engel, producer Ghazi Balkiz, cameraman John Kooistra and others after they were kidnapped in December 2012. While Engel initially blamed pro-Assad Shabiha militants for the abduction, it later turned out that they were "almost certainly" abducted by an FSA affiliated rebel group.[24] There were around 500 people in Ahrar al-Sham in August 2012.[25]
^ abCite error: The named reference Stanford Militant Organizations Ahrar al-Sham was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Ali El Yassir (23 August 2016). "The Ahrar al Sham Movement: Syria's Local Salafists". Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The movement unambiguously espoused a Salafi and Jihadi discourse when it was created, but it has also sought to differentiate itself from al Qaeda and ISIS's Salafi-Jihadism. The group continued to describe itself as independent and stated that it was not an extension of any organization, party or group. Unlike al Qaeda and ISIS, Ahrar al Sham consistently stated its fight was limited to Syria.