Rebeller vägrar vapenvila: ”Kommer stärka Assad”

Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya (Arabic: حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية‎, translit. Ahrār al-Shām, lit. 'Islamic Movement of the Free People of the Levant'‎), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition of multiple Islamist and Salafist units that coalesced into a single brigade in order to fight against the Ba'athist 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, making it the second single 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. It is the largest rebel group in Syria. The group along with Jaysh al-Islam are the main rebel groups supported by Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The group aims to create an Islamic state under Sharia law, and is openly allied with Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly the Al-Nusra Front) with which it carries out joint operations. Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Iran and Egypt have designated Ahrar al-Sham as a terrorist organization. Some U.S. officials have reportedly considered designating it as a terrorist organization because of its alleged links to al-Qaeda, while several European states have attempted small-level engagements with individual Ahrar al-Sham political officials in Turkey. According to the U.S. Department of State, "Ahrar al-Sham is not a designated foreign terrorist organization".