Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya, commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition of multiple Islamist and Salafist 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 Kurdish Front is a predominantly Kurdish Syrian rebel faction participating in the Syrian Civil War.
Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa was a rebel group in the Syrian Civil War. It was formed in September 2012 in the Raqqa Governorate. Aligned with jihadist factions for its first years, at the end of 2015, it joined the Syrian Democratic Forces. During an interview by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi in 2015, Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa's media director stated that the group wants a "civil democratic state". He also claimed that the group had no relations with the Syrian National Coalition based in Turkey.
Euphrates Volcano was a joint operations room/coalition established during the Syrian Civil War. It mainly consisted of the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and certain factions of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The group fought to expel the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant from Aleppo and Raqqa provinces. In an October 2015 publication, the Washington D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War considered Euphrates Volcano as one of the "powerbrokers" in Aleppo Province, being primarily "anti-ISIS" but not necessarily "anti-regime".
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).
Jaysh al-Salam was an operations room of Free Syrian Army factions that operated in northern and eastern Syria with the goal of attacking the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Raqqa.
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 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 Union of Euphrates Jarabulus Battalions is a Syrian rebel group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army and later the Syrian Democratic Forces which operates in northern Syria. Formed in mid-2013, the group has been led by several members of the influential al-Jader family from the town of Jarabulus and the nearby town of Karkamış in Turkey.
The Owais al-Qorani Brigade is a Syrian rebel group from al-Thawrah that was formed in 2012 and revered the Islamic martyr Uwais al-Qarani. Originally part of the Free Syrian Army, the brigade later became a subordinate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, only to be destroyed by ISIL in 2014 over disagreements. Remnants of the group eventually joined the Syrian Democratic Forces to take revenge on ISIL.
The Raqqa campaign (2012–2013) was a series of battles and offensives launched by various Syrian rebel groups, led by the al-Nusra Front, against Syrian government forces in the Raqqa Governorate as part of the Syrian Civil War. The campaign was launched at the second half of 2012 and ended in the capture of the city of Raqqa as well as dozens of smaller towns and facilities.
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 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 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.
The Conquest Brigade, also known as Battalion of Conquest or al-Fatah Brigade, is a Sunni Islamist Free Syrian Army group that takes part in the Syrian Civil War. One of the largest rebel factions active in Aleppo Governorate during the early civil war, the militia played a major part in the fighting for Aleppo city and other battles. As result of conflicts with government forces, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and the Syrian Democratic Forces, it declined after 2013. The Conquest Brigade became part of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA) in 2016.
The Muntasir Billah Division, also known by its original name Muntasir Billah Brigade, is a predominantly ethnic Turkmen Free Syrian Army militia that has taken part in the Syrian Civil War. One of the most prominent pro-Turkish formations in the FSA, the group fought in the Battle of Aleppo (2012–2016) and other campaigns in Aleppo Governorate against the Syrian government, ISIL, and the SDF. The exact origin of the current Muntasir Billah Brigade is unclear, and it is possible that it originated as remnant of a rebel group that had been active in Raqqa Governorate until being subsumed by the al-Nusra Front and ISIL in 2013.
Opposition–ISIL conflict during the Syrian Civil War started after fighting erupted between Syrian opposition groups and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In early January 2014, serious clashes between the groups erupted in the north of the country. Opposition groups near Aleppo attacked ISIL in two areas, Atarib and Anadan, which were both strongholds of the fundamentalist Sunni organization. Despite the conflict between ISIL and other rebels, one faction of ISIL has cooperated with the al-Nusra Front and the Green Battalion to combat Hezbollah in the Battle of Qalamoun. By 2018, the Islamic State was destroyed in the territories held by the opposition.
Liwa Umana al-Raqqa, also known as the "Brigade of the Trustees of Raqqa" was an armed Syrian rebel group participating in the Syrian Civil War established in 2013 in the Raqqa Governorate as a subunit of Ahrar al-Sham.
Abu Ali Bard, whose birth name is Abdul-Malik Bard, is a Syrian rebel leader and commander of Jaysh al-Thuwar, a Free Syrian Army-aligned group operating as part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces coalition that is largely made up of Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG).
This is the order of battle for the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, codenamed "Operation Peace Spring" by Turkey. The pro-Turkish forces, including the Syrian National Army, are opposed by the armed forces of the NES, including the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa 
Free Syrian Army 
Euphrates Volcano [2] 
Syrian Democratic Forces 
Turkey 
Euphrates Islamic Liberation Front 
Syria 
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant