Al-Bab Military Council | |
---|---|
مجلس الباب العسكري | |
Leaders | Jamal Abu Juma |
Dates of operation | 14 August 2016 – present |
Group(s) |
|
Headquarters | Manbij |
Active regions | Manbij District and eastern al-Bab District |
Allies | United States Russia |
Battles and wars |
The al-Bab Military Council (BMC) is an ethnically mixed force of the Syrian Democratic Forces, consisting of Kurdish, Arab, and Turkmen militias from northern Aleppo Governorate. The BMC currently maintains a presence in several villages west of Manbij, though its stated goal is to capture al-Bab, currently under the Syrian Interim Government.
The al-Bab Military Council was formed on 14 August 2016 by seven small SDF-affiliated factions with the goal of capturing the city of al-Bab, which they described as "a symbol of the revolution and the foundation for a democratic, free and plural Syria". It called for US military support. Afrin-based SDF forces, cut off from the rest of the SDF by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, launched an offensive in the countryside west of al-Bab in September. [2] [3] Amid the Battle of al-Bab and the wider Operation Euphrates Shield, the BMC fought alongside the People's Protection Units (YPG) against the Islamic State and the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA) in an attempt to capture al-Bab before Turkey did. [4] The BMC and its allies were unable to reach the city. [5] Since then, the BMC has frequently reiterated its intention to end the Turkish occupation of the region. [6] [7] [8] [9]
As clashes between the SDF and the Turkish-backed forces increased in March 2017, the SDF made a deal with the Syrian government and agreed to the posting of loyalist Syrian border guards in SDF-held areas to defuse tensions. [10] [11] The BMC coordinated with these border guards to counter attacks by the TFSA. [11] The group maintained a presence in several villages that bordered on Turkish-held territories, and repeatedly clashed with Turkish-backed forces. [12]
After the village of Arima was formally placed under Syrian Army control on 25 December 2018 following a deal between the SDF and the Syrian government, [13] [14] the BMC (along with the Manbij Military Council and Kurdish Front) was one of the SDF units which maintained a presence in the village. [15] In early January 2019, several clashes took place between the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA, previously known as the TFSA) and the BMC near Arima. [16] [17] In response, BMC fighters, led by their commander Jamal Abu Juma, conducted joint patrols with Russian Armed Forces soldiers in the area where the joint SDF-Syrian Army zone bordered on Turkish-held territories. [18] [19] Sporadic fighting continued between the BMC and SNA. [20]
The BMC initially consisted of seven militias, two Arab units (Al-Bab Revolutionary Front and Free Arima Battalion), two Kurdish groups (Qebasin Martyrs Brigade and Kieba Martyrs Brigade), one Turkmen militia (Seljuq Brigade), and two ethnically mixed units (Al-Bab Countryside Martyrs Battalion and Martyr Silo al-Rai Brigade). [4]
In October 2016, an all-female battalion was established. [21] This unit started to recruit women among the refugees from al-Bab, especially those who had suffered at the hands of ISIL. [21] [22] [23]
Jamal Abu Juma is the commander of the BMC. [6] [24] [18] By February 2019, he had survived 15 assassination attempts. [25]
The Army of Revolutionaries, or Jaysh al-Thuwar, is a multi-ethnic armed Syrian rebel coalition that is allied with the primarily Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and participating in the Syrian Civil War as part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
AANES–Syria relations concern the military and political relations between the Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), a de facto autonomous multi-ethnic region in northern and eastern Syria. The Syrian government does not officially recognise the autonomy of the AANES, and advocates a centralist approach to the governance of Syria. The NES seeks the federalisation of Syria. For most of the Syrian civil war, there has been a non-aggression pact between the military of Syria and the Syrian Democratic Forces, with occasional confrontations and some cooperation against Islamist groups, in particular against the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a coalition of ethnic militias and rebel groups in North and East Syria (AANES). An alliance of forces formed during the Syrian civil war composed primarily of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian/Syriac, as well as some smaller Armenian, Turkmen and Chechen forces. It is militarily led by the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, and also includes several ethnic militias, as well as elements of the Syrian opposition's Free Syrian Army. Founded in October 2015, the SDF states its mission as fighting to create a secular, democratic and federalised Syria. According to Turkey, the Syrian Democratic Forces has direct links to the PKK.
The Manbij offensive, code-named Operation Martyr and Commander Faysal Abu Layla by the SDF, was a 2016 military offensive operation by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to capture the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and eventually, the ISIL-held areas through Al-Bab to Herbel, in the area referred to as the "Manbij Pocket" in the northern Aleppo Governorate. The main goal of the offensive was to cut off ISIL's last supply routes from Turkey, and to prevent ISIL fighters from escaping across the Syria-Turkey border. For the first five days of the offensive, the US-led coalition conducted over 55 airstrikes in support of the SDF. After capturing Manbij city on 12 August, the SDF announced that the offensive would continue until the whole countryside around Manbij was captured, though the offensive effectively ended shortly after the Turkish Armed Forces initiated Operation Euphrates Shield to prevent the SDF uniting the regions of Rojava.
The Manbij Military Council (MMC) is a coalition established by several groups in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), primarily the Northern Sun Battalion, on 2 April 2016 at the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates. The MMC led the SDF's Manbij offensive from June 2016 that led to the capture of the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant two months later. Most fighters in the MMC are from Manbij and the surrounding areas.
The Shahba Canton is a political unit of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, in the Aleppo Governorate. The canton was established to administer the areas captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant west of the Euphrates, as part of the Afrin Region.
Arima, also spelled Orayma or Arimah, is a town and seat of a subdistrict (nahiya) in Al-Bab District, located 20 kilometers (12 mi) northeast of the city of al-Bab and 65 kilometers (40 mi) northeast of Aleppo in northern Syria. In the 2004 census, it had a population of 2,839. The town of Qabasin is also to the south-west, and closer than Al-Bab. Manbij city is to the north-east. In course of the Syrian Civil War, the town repeatedly changed hands. As of 2020, it was under dual control of the Syrian government and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
Operation Euphrates Shield was a cross-border military operation conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces in the Syrian Civil War which led to the Turkish occupation of northern Syria. Operations were carried out in the region between the Euphrates river to the east and the rebel-held area around Azaz to the west. The Turkish military and Turkey-aligned Syrian rebel groups, some of which used the Free Syrian Army label, fought against the forces of the Islamic State (IS) as well as against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from 24 August 2016. On 29 March 2017, the Turkish military officially announced that Operation Euphrates Shield was "successfully completed".
The western al-Bab offensive was a military operation launched by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the countryside of northwestern Aleppo Governorate, south of the towns of Mare' and Tel Rifaat.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has many military councils for local security and defense, each being accountable to the civil council of the area they operate in.
The western al-Bab offensive was a multi-sided military confrontation between the Syrian Army, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), other (Turkey-backed) FSA factions, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the countryside of northwestern Aleppo Governorate, south of the towns of Mare' and Tel Rifaat.
The Raqqa campaign was a military operation launched in November 2016 during the Rojava–Islamist conflict by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Raqqa Governorate, with the goal of isolating and eventually capturing the Islamic State's capital city, Raqqa. The SDF's subsidiary goals included capturing the Tabqa Dam, the nearby city of al-Thawrah, and the Baath Dam further downstream. The campaign ended successfully in October 2017, with the capture of Raqqa.
The Syrian National Army (SNA), previously the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and also known as the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA), is a coalition of armed Syrian opposition groups in the Syrian Civil War. Comprising various rebel factions that emerged at the onset of the war in July 2011, it was officially established in 2017 under the auspices of Turkey, which provides funding, training, and military support.
The East Aleppo offensive (2017), also referred to as the Dayr Hafir offensive, was an operation launched by the Syrian Army to prevent Turkish-backed rebel forces from advancing deeper into Syria, and also to ultimately capture the ISIL stronghold of Dayr Hafir. Another aim of the operation was to gain control of the water source for Aleppo city, at the Khafsa Water Treatment Plant, in addition to capturing the Jirah Military Airbase. At the same time, the Turkish-backed rebel groups turned towards the east and started launching attacks against the Syrian Democratic Forces, west of Manbij.
The Manbij Revolutionaries Battalion, also simply known as Manbij Revolutionaries, is a Syrian militia that is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces' Manbij Military Council and operates in the Aleppo Governorate. Members of the unit have declared that their primary goal is to drive the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from Syria, and to establish a democratic, inclusionist government in the country.
The Northern Democratic Brigade is a Free Syrian Army unit that is closely allied to the Syrian Kurdish YPG and YPJ in Afrin Region since 2014. Led by Absi Taha, Alexander Khalil, and Alexander Alaa, it also joined the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in November 2015. The initial members of the group originated from Jabal Zawiya in Idlib, and it has recruited Arabs from Idlib, Aleppo, and other cities in northern Syria since allying with the YPG. Since joining the SDF, the unit has begun to operate across much of northern and eastern Syria, participating in operations against anti-SDF Syrian opposition factions, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Turkish Armed Forces, and the Syrian National Army.
Adnan Abdul Aziz Ahmed, better known as Adnan Abu Amjad, was the commander of the Manbij Military Council, active within the Syrian Democratic Forces in the Syrian Civil War. Adnan led his group, the Manbij Military Council and the Northern Sun Battalion, in every battle since its formation in 2014, including the Siege of Kobanî, the Tell Abyad offensive, the Tishrin Dam offensive, the al-Hawl offensive, the al-Shaddadi offensive, the Battle of Manbij, his hometown, where he freed his parents from ISIL rule in August 2016, and the Raqqa campaign, including the Battle of Raqqa, where he was killed in action on 29 August 2017.
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