Southern Front | |
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الجبهة الجنوبية | |
![]() Logo of the Southern Front: The Syrian independence flag flanked by an AK-47 on each side | |
Leaders | See Leadership |
Dates of operation | 13 February 2014[1][2] – 21 July 2018[3][4][5][6] |
Headquarters | Amman[7] |
Active regions | Daraa Governorate[8] Quneitra Governorate[8] As Suwayda Governorate[8] Damascus[8] |
Ideology | Syrian nationalism[9][10] Anti-authoritarianism[10] Islamism (factions)[11] Secularism (factions)[12] |
Size | 25,000 (Nov. 2015);[13] 30,000 (July 2018)[14] |
Part of | ![]() See Nature of the Front |
Allies |
|
Opponents | |
Battles and wars | Syrian Civil War See List of battles |
The Southern Front (Arabic: الجبهة الجنوبية) was a Syrian rebel alliance consisting of 54 or 58 Syrian opposition factions affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, established on 13 February 2014 in southern Syria.[1][11][17]
By June 2015, the Southern Front controlled about 70 percent of Daraa Governorate, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.,[18] but by 2018, the Front was defunct, with most of its fighters either reintegrating into the Syrian Army or fleeing to other FSA held lands in the north.
Claims have been made by the Southern Front itself[19] and by media in Britain,[17] Germany[11] and the United Arab Emirates[20] that the Southern Front is being funded by the US and its allies, possibly through a US led Military Operations Center (MOC) based in Amman, Jordan. Since its formation, rebels said, field operation rooms have been added inside Syria to improve coordination between units.[7] The coalition was "described by Western officials as the best organized of the mainstream opposition".[21] The constituent groups ranged from secularist groups to moderate religious groups, and the Southern front has been described as a "non-hardline Islamist rebel group" that rejects extremism.[11]
caf,page36
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).nationalist rebels in the south
It is imperative that all nationalist forces commit to a course of action during the period of transition from authoritarianism that will fulfil the popular will [...] The current constitution will be immediately suspended and replaced by the original constitution of 1950 as an interim constitution until the drafting of a permanent constitution for the country that shall be approved by a popular referendum.
bbc9Dec2014
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Emile Hokayem, a Middle East analyst at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the fall of Brigade 52 weakens government defenses around the capital [...] "The Southern Front is now showing itself as an increasingly effective buffer against Islamist rebels as well as an effective means for applying pressure on the Assad regime," Hokayem said. The rebels control about 70 percent of Daraa and are poised to seize the provincial capital from Assad's forces, he said.
AP NEWS 2014
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).