Hazzm Movement

Hazzm Movement
حركة حزم
Harakat Hazzm
Participant in the Syrian Civil War

Official logo of the Hazzm Movement

Hazzm Movement flag
Active 25 January 2014 – 1 March 2015
Leaders
  • Salim Idris[1]
  • Bilal Atar
  • Abdullah Awda
  • Hamza Shamali
  • Murshid al-Khalid
  • Mohammed al-Dahik
Headquarters Atarib, Aleppo Governorate, Syria
Area of operations
Strength 400[3] (February 2015)
Part of
Became
Opponents
Battles and wars

Syrian Civil War

The Hazzm Movement (Arabic: حركة حزم‎‎, Harakat Hazzm, meaning Movement of Steadfastness[12]) was an alliance of Syrian rebel groups affiliated with the Free Syrian Army in northwestern Syria that existed from 25 January 2014[13] until 1 March 2015, when most of them dissolved into the Levant Front.

History

In late 2013 the former Supreme Military Council chief of staff Salim Idris planned to form the Hazzm Movement in response him being sacked as the chief of staff.[1] The Hazzm Movement was established on 25 January 2014 when 12 small rebel factions merged. Several of the factions had been part of the Farouq Brigades.[14] The groups that became the Army of Mujahedeen were originally going to join the Hazzm Movement.[15] The previous incarnation of the group, called Harakat Zaman Mohamed (The movement of the time of Muhammad), was supported by the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria.[15]

The Hazzm Movement had a northern division, led by Murshid al-Khalid (Abu al-Mutassim), and a southern division led by Mohammed al-Dahik (Abu Hatem). The Secretary-General was Bilal Atar (Abu Abd al-Sham).[14] Abdullah Awda (Abu Zeid) was in charge of military operations[12] and Hamza Shamali (Abu Hashem) in charge of political affairs.[14]

The group was supplied BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles[14] in a covert CIA program launched in 2014. Scores of the group's fighters also received U.S. military training in Qatar under the same program.[16]

In October 2014, the al-Nusra Front began attacking positions of the Hazzm Movement in the Idlib Governorate, overrunning bases and seizing weapon stores, due to its perceived closeness to the United States.[16] Following the loss of men and weapons to Nusra, the Idlib branch of Hazzm stopped receiving funds from the CIA in December 2014, funds to the Aleppo branch continued.[17] In January 2015, al-Nusra attacked Hazzm Movement positions in the Aleppo Governorate. The Hazzm Movement reacted by joining the Levant Front, a large alliance of prominent Aleppo-based Islamist rebel groups; the alliance urged al Nusra to resolve its dispute with the Hazzm Movement by negotiating with the Levant Front.[18]

On 1 March 2015, after several heavy clashes with the al-Nusra Front, the Hazzm Movement announced they were dissolving into the Levant Front.[7] However, the Levant Front later threatened the Hazzm members, vowing to hunt down their commanders for being "corrupt criminals", ordering their fighters to pledge to "continue jihad" and to not fight together with "corrupt criminals".[1]

On 5 May 2015, some former members of the Hazzm Movement, including the Atarib Martyrs Brigade, and the allied Syria Revolutionaries Front based in the north, as well as smaller FSA groups, joined the newly-formed Army of Revolutionaries.[19][20] However, the Atarib Martyrs Brigade left Jaysh al-Thuwar in 2016 to join the Army of Mujahideen in in May.[21]

During the Turkish military intervention in Syria which began in late August 2016, some former members of the Hazzm Movement and the Syrian Revolutionaries Front from Turkey participated in the operation under the flags of other rebel factions in Jarabulus.[22]

Component groups

The 12 groups that merged on 25 January 2014 to form the Hazzm Movement were:

Several other groups joined the Hazzm Movement at a later date.

9th Division of Aleppo

The 9th Division of Aleppo is a Syrian rebel group formerly affiliated with the rebel Syria Revolutionaries Front coalition[15] and joined the Hazm Movement in January 2014.[23] It is headed by Murshid al-Khaled (Aboul-Moutassem).[24]

Furthermore, the group is further composed of several additional subgroups before the merger:[23]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The rise and fall of Syria's Hazzm rebel group". The New Arab. 3 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Rebels Worth Supporting: Syria's Harakat Hazm". Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "U.S. Syria strategy falters with collapse of rebel group". Reuters. 5 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "The new face of the Syrian rebellion". The Arab Chronicle. 5 March 2014. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Western-backed rebels join Aleppo alliance - Syria monitor". Reuters. 31 January 2015.
  6. ↑ Lund, Aron (1 December 2014). "The Revolutionary Command Council: Rebel unity in Syria?". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  7. 1 2 "U.S.-backed Syria rebel group dissolves itself after losses". Reuters Media. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "Syria Update: January 6-12, 2015". Institute for the Study of War. 13 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "Syrian army enters Homs neighbourhoods". Al Jazeera English. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  10. ↑ "Reinforcements rush to Aleppo as battles rage". The Daily Star. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "Al-Qaeda attacks Syrian rebels in Aleppo". ARA News. 31 January 2015.
  12. 1 2 "Syrian rebels who received first U.S. missiles of war see shipment as 'an important first step'". Washington Post. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  13. ↑ Lister, Charles (9 April 2014). "Syrian insurgents acquire TOW missiles". Jane's Defence Weekly. 51 (20). Archived from the original on 12 April 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Lister, Charles (9 June 2014). "American anti-tank weapons appear in Syrian rebel hands". Huffington Post (Updated ed.). Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "Harakat Hazm: America's new favorite jihadist group". Al Akhbar. 25 May 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  16. 1 2 "U.S.-backed Syria rebels routed by fighters linked to al-Qaeda". Washington Post. 2 November 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  17. ↑ "Rebels in northern Syria say U.S. has stopped paying them". McClatchy Newspapers. 9 December 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2015. Those cut off include a larger group of Hazm fighters whom Nusra ousted from their bases in the Zawyah mountains in Idlib province in October
  18. ↑ "Western-backed rebels join Aleppo alliance - Syria monitor". Reuters. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  19. ↑ "#Syria: Seven FSA groups (incl. Jabhat Akrad, Shams Shamal & Homs Revolutionary Union) form "The Revolutionary Army".". Twitter.
  20. ↑ "#SRO - EXCLUSIVE - Former Hazzm and #SRF forces allied with kurds and some #FSA small units to create Jaysh al-Thuwar (in 4 governorates).". Twitter.
  21. ↑ "Leadership in the Army of the Mujahideen's (RFS) after the recent merger: the unification of the floor and arms Our goal". RFS Media Office. 22 May 2016.
  22. ↑ "The last news of Syria, now the movement of packages and Syria Revolutionaries Front you coming process "shield against al-Furat" Daesh "in Jarablos". Treckat. 1 September 2016.
  23. 1 2 "FSA - Ninth Division". Syrian Rebel Obs.
  24. ↑ "The Syria Revolutionaries' Front". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  25. ↑ "The Moderate Rebels: A Complete and Growing List of Vetted Groups". Democratic Revolution, Syrian Style. 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
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