The Euphrates Liberation Brigade (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: Liwa Tahrir al-Furat) is a mostly

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

militia that operates as part of the

Syrian Democratic Forces , war = the Syrian Civil War , image = Flag of Syrian Democratic Forces.svgborder , caption = Flag , active = 10 October 2015 – present , ideology = DemocracyDecentralizationSecularism ...

' Manbij Military Council (MMC) in the Syrian civil war.

History

The Euphrates Liberation Brigade was founded in Manbij as part of the MMC in October 2016. Originally 250 men strong, the militia expanded over time, mostly recruiting

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

from Manbij city and its surroundings. Several of its fighters are former

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) members who abandoned the rebellion against

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

due to the increasing Islamist radicalism among anti-government forces. Regardless, the Begin–Sadat Center has considered the militia to be still part of the FSA. Soon after its formation, the Euphrates Liberation Brigade fought the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

(ISIL) west of Manbij during the Battle of al-Bab, in course of which it was allegedly bombed by the Turkish Air Force on 20 November. In April 2017, elements of the Euphrates Liberation Brigade were among a contingent of 200 MMC fighters that were sent to

al-Thawrah Al-Thawrah ( ar, ٱلثَّوْرَة, aṯ-Ṯawrah), also known as Al-Tabqah ( ar, ٱلطَّبْقَة, aṭ-Ṭabqah, also ), is a city in Raqqa Governorate, Syria, approximately west of Raqqa. The name "al-Thawrah" literally means "The Revo ...

in order to help the SDF to capture the city from ISIL. Under the command of Ibrahim Semho, the militia also took part in the following

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

for ISIL's self-proclaimed capital

Raqqa Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) (Kurdish languages, Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. T ...

. Other parts of the unit remained at the frontlines west of Manbij, where at least one of their fighters was captured by Turkish-backed rebels in May 2017.

Ideology

The Euphrates Liberation Brigade has been set up from the outset as ethnically inclusivist and pro-democratic. Its stated aim is to help establish a

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

, democratic Syria. The militia is also opposed to radical

Islamism Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is ...

References

{{Syrian Civil War Free Syrian Army Anti-ISIL factions in Syria Military units and factions of the Syrian civil war Syrian Democratic Forces Military units and formations established in 2016