Syrian politics and political organizations general discussion

[Famous Mortimer]

Governments in exile:

Syrian National Council (SNC) - Main Syrian opposition group founded in 2011. It was originally intended as a government-in-exile and was successful in that regard, gaining recognition from many foreign governments. In 2012, it formed an expanded group called the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces ("National Coalition") which took over the government-in-exile role, although the SNC continues to be touted as the most important group within the National Coalition. The SNC is based in Turkey and made up largely of Muslim Brotherhood supporters. Interestingly though, its figurehead president, who was also briefly president of the National Coalition, is a Christian Kurdish reformed Communist, George Sabra.

National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces ("National Coalition") - Expanded government in exile created by the SNC in 2012. Notable additions include the Kurdish National Council (KNC) and the Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCCS) as well as several previously unaffiliated individuals. It is based in Qatar and is basically just an expanded SNC. Since January 2015, it has been led by Khaled Khoja, a Syrian Turkmen, which should tell you about the group's continued Turkish allegiance. The Syrian Free Army is the armed wing of the National Coalition.

Internal opposition coalitions:

The Supreme Council for the Leadership of the Syrian Revolution (SCLSR) - Syria's largest internal opposition coalition. The SCLSR is a bizarre coalition of leftists and Islamists. It uses a lot of leftist language, including calling its local affiliates "Revolutionary Command Councils" but is largely funded by the Gulf States and has been instrumental in distributing funds to the Syrian Free Army and other Islamist groups. The SCLSR was a founding member of the SNC and the National Coalition. George Sabra is a prominent member.

Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCCS) - Internal opposition coalition led by Sakharov Prize winning dissident Razan Zaitouneh, a secular lady human rights lawyer. Member of the National Coalition.

Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC) - Youth oriented internal opposition group. The SRGC is the internal opposition group most strongly opposed to any negotiation with the Assad regime. Opposed the early domination of the revolution by the SNC but has since reluctantly joined the National Coalition.

National Coordination Body for Democratic Change (NCB) - The NCB is the only internal opposition group that supports negotiation with the Assad regime. It only has one important member, the Democratic Union Party, the PKK affiliated Kurdish party. It has other members though, mostly small splinters of pro-Assad parties like the DEMOCRATIC Ba'ath Party and the DEMOCRATIC Arab Socialist Union. The other opposition groups do not care for the NCB because its conciliatory line.

Kurdish groups:

Democratic Union Party (DYP) - The DYP is the dominant group in the self declared autonomous area of Rojava. The DYP is affiliated with the transnational group the Congress of Communities in Kurdistan, which is itself a front of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and it is thus considered a PKK affiliate. The DYP shares the PKK's ideology of "Democratic Confederalism", a form of libertarian socialism synthesized from the teachings of American Anarchist Maurry Bookchin by PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. In keeping with these teachings, the DYP bizarrely DOES NOT support the creation of an independent Kurdistan and instead wants be Rojava to be part of a future Syria where every locality is governed by Democratic Confederalist principles regardless of ethnicity.

The Kurdish National Council (KNC) - The KNC was formed by the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDPS), the Syrian affiliate of Iraqi based Kurdistan Democratic Party led by Iraqi Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani. As the name suggests, it was actively modeled after the Syrian National Council but it refused to take part in the SNC because the SNC refused to agree to Kurdish autonomy. The KNC/KDSPS is now in the weird position of actually outflanking the violent PKK/DYP on the nationalist question. It wants Kurds to be given special status while the PKK/DYP wants everyone to be governed by the same anarchist structures. Despite this, the KNC was not very popular and was eventually forced into a coalition government with the DYP, which the DYP easily dominated. It has since reluctantly joined the National Coalition in order to salvage at least some influence.

The Kurdish Supreme Committee (KSC) - The KSC was the coalition government between the DYP and the KNC agreed to in 2012. Almost as soon as the agreement was made, the DYP started to dominate the proceedings, often replacing the Kurdistan flag with its party flag at offices officially controlled by the KSC. The KSC still officially exists but was effectively ended with local elections in March 2015, which resulted in an overwhelming victory for the DYP. The KNC/KDSPS rejected this elections as in violation of the coalition agreement. Interestingly, the Assad regime said the elections were in line with the Syrian constitution.

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - The SDF is basically the DYP affiliated People's Protection Units re-branded to be Syria wide militia. The People's Protection Units still make up the vast, vast majority of the forces though. The next largest group in the SDF is the Christian based Syriac Union Party/Syriac Military Council with about a thousand fighters. There are also several small Arab groups that defected from the Syrian Free Army.

[ingemann]

Interesting, I have mostly focused on the fighting groups, and it's interesting to get the political groups, which take part in the negotiations.

[palandio]

I've found this guide on the armed opposition from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW):
http://understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Syrian%20Opposition%20Guide_0.pdf

It is from October 07, hence maybe slightly outdated given the pace of events since the Russian intervention. Additionally one may not draw the same conclusions as the authors.

But I still find it very useful to get an overview in the mid of thousands of often short-lived rebel brigades. It classifies the armed opposition according to:
- area of operation
- participation in operation rooms
- ties to the al-Nusra Front
- funding
- relevance ("powerbrokers")

Jordan has been given the task of compiling a list of "terrorist groups". There have been reports on a leaked list that would also include among the terrorists the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, which is classified as an Aleppo-based "powerbroker" group independent from al-Nusra by the ISW.