Syrian rebel groups have been great in number since the start of the civil war in 2011. Ahrar al-Sham, Jaish al-Fatah, Fatah Halab and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, previously known as Nusra Front. Looking at these names, it begets on to ask: why do so many Syrian rebel groups have similar names?
Let’s take a step back and go over what these names mean. “Jabhat” means “front,” which makes sense. “Fatah” means “conquest,” a fitting concept. “Sham” refers to “the Levant,” the region of the Middle East including Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. “Jaysh” means “army,” another appropriate term.
Reading the Wikipedia page for the Syrian civil war, one will see that Islamist groups in particular often have similar names, which makes sense given their similar ideologies and goals. In addition to the aforementioned, there’s Ajnad al-Sham, Jaysh al-Mujahideen, and numerous others.
In the event of future rebranding a la Nusra Front’s, remember to keep track of who’s who when discussing the Syria conflict.
The Syrian civil war has killed over 400,000 so far, by some estimates.
AL
