The Retribution Army ( ar, جيش القصاص; Jayš al- Qiṣaṣ) was a

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA) ( ar, الجيش السوري الحر, al-jaysh as-Sūrī al-ḥur) is a loose faction in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by officers of the Syrian Armed Forces with the goal of bringing down the governm ...

(FSA)-affiliated group formed by Deir ez-Zor natives that fought in the Syrian Civil War against the government and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

History

The Retribution Army was originally founded in Deir ez-Zor by

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

Arabs and took part in the three-way battle for the city between loosely allied rebel factions, the

Syrian Armed Forces The Syrian Arab Armed Forces ( ar, الْقُوَّاتُ الْمُسَلَّحَةُ الْعَرَبِيَّةُ السُّورِيَّةُ, al-Quwwāt al-Musallaḥah al-ʿArabīyah as-Sūrīyah) are the military forces of the Syrian Arab Re ...

, and ISIL. When the FSA units in Deir ez-Zor were overrun by ISIL in mid-2014, surviving remnants of the Retribution Army retreated north into areas held by the People's Protection Units (YPG). Eventually relocating to

Kobanî Canton Euphrates Region, formerly Kobanî Canton, ( ku, Herêma Firatê, ar, إقليم الفرات, syc, ܦܢܝܬܐ ܕܦܪܬ, translit=Ponyotho d'Prat) is the central of three original regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Sy ...

, the Retribution Army became a founding member of the

Euphrates Volcano Euphrates Volcano ( ar-at, بركان الفرات, Burkān al-Furāt) was a joint operations room/coalition established during the Syrian Civil War. It mainly consisted of the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and certain factions o ...

operations room in September 2014. The group then took part in the defence of the town of

Kobanî Kobanî (, , also rendered , ar, كُوبَانِي, Kūbānī) (Kurdish: Kobanî/ کۆبانی) officially Ayn al-Arab ( ar, عَيْن الْعَرَب, ʿAyn al-ʿArab ), is a Kurdish-majority city in northern Syria, lying immediately ...

against the siege by ISIL, and continued to fight with the YPG and its allies until mid-2015. At the time led by Abu Ali, a former primary schoolteacher, they took part in the Tell Abyad offensive. After Tell Abyad was captured, however, disputes erupted between the Retribution Army and the YPG. Abu Ali later claimed that his men had hoisted the

Syrian Independence flag As a result of the Syrian Civil War since 2011, there are at least two flags used to represent Syria, used by different factions in the war. The incumbent government of the Syrian Arab Republic led by the Ba'ath Party uses the red-white-black tri ...

over the city per a previous agreement, but it was taken down and replaced by the YPG banner. Feeling insulted, the Retribution Army then left Euphrates Volcano and went to Turkey. There, Abu Ali said in an interview that the

Syrian Kurds The Kurdish population of Syria ( ar, كرد سورية) is the country's largest ethnic minority, usually estimated at around 10% of the Syrian population Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria, constituting around 10 per cent of the ...

are "like the devil", though admitted that many other FSA units remained allied to the YPG. Though Abu Ali claimed that the Retribution Army would continue to fight in Syria at another front after "some much-needed rest", the unit has not resurfaced since.

References

{{Syrian Civil War Anti-government factions of the Syrian civil war Free Syrian Army Anti-ISIL factions in Syria Military units and formations disestablished in 2015

History

See also

References