Richard Engel is an American journalist and author who is the chief foreign correspondent for NBC News. He was assigned to that position on April 18, 2008, after serving as the network's Middle East correspondent and Beirut bureau chief. Before joining NBC in May 2003, Engel reported on the start of the 2003 war in Iraq for ABC News as a freelance journalist in Baghdad.
Ma'arrat Misrin is a small city in northwestern Syria, administratively part of Idlib Governorate. Ma'arrat Misrin lies an elevation of 338 metres (1,109 ft). It is located 50 kilometers southwest of Aleppo and 40 kilometers north of Ma'arrat al-Numan and 12 kilometers from Sarmin. Nearby localities include Kafr Yahmul to the north, Zardana and Maarrat al-Ikhwan to the northeast, Taftanaz to the east, Ta'um, Binnish, al-Fu'ah and Kafriya to the southeast, Idlib to the south, and Hafasraja to the southwest.
Since the start of the Syrian Civil War, all sides have used social media to try to discredit their opponents by using negative terms such as 'Syrian regime' for the government, 'armed gangs/terrorists' for the rebels, 'Syrian government/US State Department propaganda', 'biased', 'US/Western/foreign involvement'. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, given the complexity of the Syrian conflict, media bias in reporting remains a key challenge, plaguing the collection of useful data and misinforming researchers and policymakers regarding the actual events taking place.
Shabiha is a term for state sponsored militias of the Syrian government loyal to Assad family. The mercenaries consist exclusively of Alawite men paid by the regime to eliminate figures of its domestic opposition and alleged fifth-columnists. Shabiha were established in the 1980s to smuggle weapons to the Syrian soldiers stationed in Lebanon during the Syrian occupation of Lebanon.
Al-Nusra Front, also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant, was a Salafi jihadist organization fighting against Syrian Ba'athist government forces in the Syrian Civil War. Its aim was to overthrow president Bashar al-Assad and establish an Islamic state in Syria.
War crimes in the Syrian civil war have been numerous and serious. A United Nations report published in August 2014 stated that "the conduct of the warring parties in the Syrian Arab Republic has caused civilians immeasurable suffering". Another UN report released in 2015 stated that the war has been "characterized by a complete lack of adherence to the norms of international law" and that "civilians have borne the brunt of the suffering inflicted by the warring parties". Various countries have prosecuted several war criminals for a limited number of atrocities committed during the Syrian civil war.
The Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing is located on the Syria–Turkey border about 50 km (31 mi) west of Aleppo in northwest Syria. It connects the Syrian M45 and the Turkish D827 highways, between the cities of İskenderun and Idlib, and is known for its long lines of trucks and buses. The closest town on the Turkish side of the border is Reyhanlı in Hatay Province, and the closest towns on the Syrian side are ad-Dana and Atarib. The crossing is the site of a 6th-century triumphal arch. It has been an important crossing for Syrian rebels during the Syrian civil war.
Darat Izza is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the Aleppo Governorate, located 30 kilometres northwest of Aleppo. Nearby localities include Deir Samaan to the north, Anadan to the east and Turmanin to the southwest.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from September to December 2012. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
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 Farouq Brigades, also spelt Farooq and Farook, was an armed rebel organisation formed by a number of Homs based members of the Free Syrian Army early in the Syrian Civil War. The group rapidly expanded in size and prominence in 2012, before suffering internal splits and battlefield reversals in 2013 that greatly reduced its influence. By 2014, the group was largely defunct, with member factions joining other rebel groups. The brigades were named Farouq after Omar bin al-Khattab, a Sahaba (companion) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the second Caliph.
The Syrian Islamic Front was an Insurgent umbrella organisation alliance of various Sunni Salafi Islamist Rebel factions against the Bashar al-Assad in Syria the organisation objective is transformation of Syria into an Islamic state under Sharia law.
The "Syrian Islamic Liberation Front" was a coalition of the Islamist rebel brigades that fought against the Syrian regime in the Syrian Civil War. At the end of 2012, it was one of the strongest military coalitions in Syria, representing up to half of the rebel forces.
The battle of Raqqa, also known as the first battle of Raqqa and code named by rebels as the "Raid of the Almighty", was fought for control of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa during the Syrian civil war between Sunni Islamist rebel insurgents and the Syrian Arab Army. Rebel forces launched the offensive in early March 2013, and declared themselves in "near-total control" on 5 March, making it the first provincial capital claimed to come under rebel control in the civil war. The battle, on the opposition side, was primarily led by the al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham.
The Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement was a Sunni Islamist rebel group involved in the Syrian Civil War. In 2014, it was reportedly one of the most influential factions in Aleppo, especially the Western Aleppo countryside. Between 2014 and 2015, it was part of the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council and recipient of U.S.-made BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles. The Movement made multiple attempts to merge with the larger Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham but were refused by Ahrar al-Sham's leadership. The Zenki Movement also made attempts to merge with other Islamist factions, Jaysh al-Islam and the Sham Legion. However, all merging efforts with these groups failed, leading to the Zenki Movement joining the Salafi Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2017. But after a few months the group left HTS and within a year went to war with HTS by joining the Turkish-backed Syrian Liberation Front alongside Ahrar al-Sham on 18 February 2018. After a series of clashes in early 2019 Al Zenki were largely defeated by HTS, expelled to Afrin and absorbed in the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. However, it reportedly re-emerged as an independent entity in 2020.
The Army of Conquest or Jaish al-Fatah, abbreviated JaF, was a joint command center of Sunni Islamist Syrian rebel factions participating in the Syrian Civil War.
The Syrian National Army, 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 2015 Qatari hunters kidnapping set off a hostage crisis of nearly a year and a half in Iraq and involved negotiations and deals between many neighboring states. On Wednesday 16 December 2015, at about 3:00am local time, a party of 28 Qatari hunters, including members of the ruling royal House of Thani, were taken hostage in Muthanna Governorate, Iraq, in the desert area of Busaya not far from the border with Saudi Arabia. The Qataris remained in the hands of their kidnappers until 2017, when a deal in Syria and the payment of a ransom led to their release.
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.
Maysar Ali Musa Abdullah al-Juburi, also known as Abu Mariya al-Qahtani, is an Iraqi Islamic militant fighting in the Syrian Civil War. He was formerly a commander and Shura Council member in Jabhat al-Nusra.
