Syrian Revolutionary Command Council

Syrian Revolutionary Command Council
مجلس قيادة الثورة السورية Participant in the Syrian Civil War
Logo of the SRCC
Active	August 2014 – late 2015
Groups	Free Syrian Army Syria Revolutionaries Front (dissolved) Shields of the Revolution Council (dissolved) Jabhat Haqq al-Muqatala (dissolved) Helpers Brigades 101st Infantry Division 13th Division Jaysh al-Nasr Jaish al-Tahrir Al-Fawj al-Awal Levant Front (dissolved) Liwa Ahrar Souriya Al-Jabha al-Suriyya lil-Tahrir Islamic Front (dissolved) Authenticity and Development Front Army of Mujahedeen Fastaqim Kama Umirt Northern Storm Brigade (dissolved) Sham Legion Other Groups Ahrar ash-Sham Jaysh al-Islam Ansar al-Sham (dissolved) Ajnad al-Sham Islamic Union Jabhat Ansar al-Islam Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki
Leaders	Qais Abdullah Sheikh (Command Council President) Lt. Gen. Hajj Ali (military leader) Mohammed Alloush (political leader)
Area of operations	Syria
Became	Syrian Liberation Command Council
Opponents	Syrian Armed Forces National Defense Force Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Battles and wars	Syrian Civil War

Other Groups

The Syrian Revolutionary Command Council (Arabic: مجلس قيادة الثورة السورية‎, translit. Majlis Qiyādat ath-Thawra as-Sūriyya‎) is an alliance of 72 Syrian rebels factions involved in the Syrian Civil War that was formed on 3 August 2014 and remained active throughout 2015.

The aim of the council is to increase the coordination and unity between the different groups, with the council planned to be divided into regional fronts that will be led by councils made up of representatives from the different factions, similar to how the Free Syrian Army was structured. The signatories represent both secularists and Islamists; however Islamist group Al-Nusra Front and some of its allies were excluded. Initially Ahrar ash-Sham was also excluded, however the group did join the alliance at a later date. The group announced its charter on 4 October 2014. It held its first formal meeting in Gaziantep, Turkey on 29 November 2014.Syrian Kurds were also notably absent.

Early on in the coalition's existence, tensions existed between moderate rebels and their Islamist compatriots. Jabhat al-Nusra stormed the bases of the Ansar Brigades in Idlib and the Haqq Front in Hama on 28 November as the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council was holding its first formal meeting in Turkey. Although Jabhat al-Nusra was excluded from the coalition, many of its allies not only were included but were assigned executive positions.The close relationship between Islamist groups and Jabhat al-Nusra was demonstrated as the two routed groups, both of which were receiving U.S. support through a covert CIA program, were forced to delivered their weapons to Ahrar ash-Sham as part of their surrender to Jabhat al-Nusra.

Immediately following the first formal meeting of the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council, Col. Muhammad Hallak expressed skepticism toward the October document on which the new group is based, saying it was written to ensure an Islamist government after Assad is toppled. Col. Hallak was quoted as saying: “The covenant itself doesn't mention the idea of free elections and most of the groups represented in the executive office don’t believe in the original democratic values of the revolution".