The Syrian opposition is an umbrella term for the Syrian rebel organizations that opposed Bashar al-Assad's Ba'athist regime during the Syrian civil war.
The Syrian peace process is the ensemble of initiatives and plans to resolve the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011 and spilled beyond its borders. The peace process was moderated by the Arab League, the UN Special Envoy on Syria, Russia and Western powers. The negotiating parties were representatives of the Syrian Ba'athist regime and the Syrian opposition. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria was excluded at the insistence of Turkey. Radical Salafist forces including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have not engaged in any contacts on peaceful resolution to the conflict.
The Democratic Union Party is a Kurdish left-wing political party established on 20 September 2003 in northern Syria. It is a founding member of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change. It is the leading political party among Syrian Kurds. The PYD was established as a Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 2003, and both organizations are still closely affiliated through the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).
The Kurdish National Council in Syria or Kurdish National Council (KNC) is a Syrian Kurdish political party. While the KNC had initially more international support than the ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) during the early years of the Syrian civil war and a strong supporter basis among some Syrian Kurdish refugees, the overwhelming popular support the PYD enjoys has eroded support for the KNC in Syrian Kurdistan, losing almost all popular support.
Nubl is a small city in northern Syria, administratively part of the Aleppo Governorate, located northwest of Aleppo. Nearby localities include al-Zahraa immediately to the south, Anadan to the southeast, Tel Rifaat to the northeast, Aqiba to the north, Barad to the west, and Mayer immediately to the east. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Nubl had a population of 21,039 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Shia Muslims and together with nearby al-Zahraa, Nubl forms a small Shia-inhabited pocket in a mostly Sunni Muslim area in the Aleppo Governorate.
Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya, commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition of multiple Islamist units that coalesced into a single brigade and later a division in order to fight against the Syrian Government led by Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian Civil War. Ahrar al-Sham was led by Hassan Aboud until his death in 2014. In July 2013, Ahrar al-Sham had 10,000 to 20,000 fighters, which at the time made it the second most powerful unit fighting against al-Assad, after the Free Syrian Army. It was the principal organization operating under the umbrella of the Syrian Islamic Front and was a major component of the Islamic Front. With an estimated 20,000 fighters in 2015, Ahrar al-Sham became the largest rebel group in Syria after the Free Syrian Army became less powerful. Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam are the main rebel groups supported by Turkey. On 18 February 2018, Ahrar al-Sham merged with the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement to form the Syrian Liberation Front.
The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, commonly named the Syrian National Coalition, or the Syrian National Revolutionary Coalition (SNRC) is a political organization founded in Doha, Qatar, in November 2012 during the Syrian Civil War in an attempt to coalesce the various opposition movements to Bashar al-Assad's Ba'athist regime.
The Battle of Ras al-Ayn was a series of armed clashes for control of the town of Ras al-Ayn during the Syrian Civil War, mainly between the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units (YPG) and an alliance of Syrian rebel groups, with the occasional involvement of the Syrian Armed Forces. As result of the battle's first phase, the Syrian Army was expelled from the city by Syrian rebels, whereupon the latter attacked the YPG-affiliated fighters in Ras al-Ayn. In the following months, the city was effectively divided into rebel-held and YPG-held areas, with intermittent fighting resulting in the gradual expansion of the YPG's territory in the city and its surroundings. Islamist and jihadist factions soon became dominant among the rebels in the region, further contributing to tensions with the secular-leftist YPG. In July 2013, the battle's final phase erupted and ended when an alliance of YPG-led troops completely expelled the rebels from Ras al-Ayn.
The Geneva II Conference on Syria was a United Nations-backed international peace conference on the future of Syria with the aim of ending the Syrian Civil War, by bringing together the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition to discuss the clear steps towards a transitional government for Syria with full executive powers. The conference took place on 22 January 2014 in Montreux, on 23–31 January 2014 in Geneva (Switzerland), and again on 10–15 February 2014.
Relations between the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are unclear and varied among the different FSA factions. Both are opposed to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. However, several clashes between the two have taken place. Under pressure from the United States, some FSA groups coordinate with the YPG to battle ISIL under the name of the Syrian Democratic Forces, although some other FSA groups remained in conflict with the YPG and the SDF, including FSA groups in the SDF.
The Geneva peace talks on Syria, also known as Geneva III, were intended peace negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition in Geneva under the auspices of the UN. Although formally started on 1 February 2016, they were formally suspended only two days later, on 3 February 2016.
The Descendants of Saladin Brigade was a Free Syrian Army group active in the northern Aleppo Governorate. The group was supported by Turkey and was initially funded and armed by the United States, mainly fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant but also opposing the Syrian government and the Democratic Union Party's (PYD) affiliates such as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The brigade was largely disbanded by the Turkish Army in 2017, following disagreements over the participation in a planned Turkish-led offensive against Afrin Canton, although a small faction within the group remained active and participated in the offensive since January 2018.
The Al-Rahman Legion, also known as the Al-Rahman Corps, is a Syrian rebel group that operated in Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus, and in the eastern Qalamoun Mountains. It was the main rebel group in Jobar, and was backed by Qatar. The group's leader is Abdul al-Nasr Shamir, a former Syrian Army officer from rural Homs who defected from the Syrian Army in early 2012.
Several attempts have been made to broker ceasefires in the Syrian Civil War.
The 2013 battle of Tell Abyad was a military confrontation in the town of Tell Abyad between the Kurdish Front and the Democratic Union Party-affiliated People's Protection Units and Women's Protection Units against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the al-Nusra Front, and Ahrar al-Sham, resulting in a Kurdish defeat and the jihadist capture of the town.
The Syrian National Army, also known as the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA), is a coalition of armed Syrian opposition groups that participates in the Syrian civil war. Comprising various rebel factions that emerged at the start of the war in July 2011, it was officially established in 2017 under the auspices of Turkey, who provides funding, training, and military support.
The Geneva peace talks on Syria in 2017, also called the Geneva IV, V, VI, VII, & VIII talks, were peace negotiations between the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition under the auspices of the United Nations. The Geneva IV talks took place between 23 February and 3 March 2017, trying to resolve the Syrian Civil War. The Geneva VII talks began on 10 July 2017. The Geneva VIII talks were initially scheduled to begin on 28 November 2017.
The Battle of al-Yaarubiyah was fought in late October 2013 at al-Yaarubiyah, a strategically important town at the border of Syria with Iraq. Affiliates of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), namely the YPG/YPJ and local Arab tribes, attacked the settlement in an attempt to capture it from Jihadist and Islamist groups, led by the Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. After four days of heavy fighting, the Islamists were defeated and expelled from al-Yaarubiyah.
The al-Hasakah Governorate campaign was a multi-sided military conflict between Syrian government forces, Kurdish forces, armed Syrian opposition groups, and Salafist jihadist forces, including al-Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the al-Nusra Front in the al-Hasakah Governorate as part of the Syrian Civil War. The clashes began with the People's Protection Units (YPG)'s entrance into the civil war in July 2012 and spread across the governorate.
The Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC) is an umbrella political body which represents the broadest spectrum of Syrian revolution and opposition forces. It is a functional entity whose mandate is to negotiate with the Ba'athist regime within UN-sponsored pathways as part of the Syrian peace process. It is currently led by Bader Jamous.
