The Free Syrian Army is a big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition armed militias in the Syrian Civil War founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defected from the Syrian Armed Forces. The officers announced that the immediate priority of the Free Syrian Army was to safeguard the lives of protestors and civilians from the deadly crackdown by Bashar al-Assad's security apparatus; with the ultimate goal of accomplishing the objectives of the Syrian revolution, namely, the end to the decades-long reign of the ruling al-Assad family. In late 2011, the FSA was the main Syrian military defectors group. Initially a formal military organization at its founding, its original command structure dissipated by 2016, and the FSA identity has since been used by various Syrian opposition groups.
Areas of conflict and displacement (light purple), refugee camps (red triangles), displaced in host homes (green houses), FSA held territory (red), June 2012.
Areas of conflict and displacement (light purple), refugee camps (yellow triangles), displaced in host homes (green houses), FSA held territory (red), June 2012.
FSA fighters plan during the Battle of Aleppo (October 2012).
Structure of the Supreme Military Council, the Syrian National Coalition's military wing, by late 2013
The Syrian opposition is the political structure represented by the Syrian National Coalition and associated Syrian anti-Assad groups with certain territorial control as an alternative Syrian government.
Revolutionary Commando Army fighters during M240B machine gun training with U.S. Army Special Forces, al-Tanf, 4 March 2020
