Rebels in Syria’s Aleppo Announce ‘Total Merger’

Several Groups Reportedly Part of Latest Alliance

Rebel factions in Syria are announcing new alliances and umbrella factions every few weeks, usually restricted to small factions or small amounts of territory. Today’s seems to be one of the biggest.

This new announcement, reported by rebel mouthpiece the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, is in the key northern Aleppo Province, where Syrian military forces are trying to take the city of Aleppo, once the nation’s industrial and financial capital.

The new alliance includes the Islamic Front and several smaller factions, who have agreed to a “total merger under one flag and united leadership.” The united group will be called the Shamiyya Front.

The Syrian military had been making inroads in Aleppo in recent weeks, though the loss of important military bases along the road between Aleppo and Damascus may limit the military’s ability to reinforce in the area.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.