Profile: Who are the key players in the war in Syria?

Armed opposition groups against President Bashar al-Assad could number as many as 1,000 in charge of around 100,000 fighters.

In urging MPs to vote for airstrikes last week, UK Prime Minister David Cameron made much of the claim that they would support a ground force of around 70,000 Syrian rebels that could wipe out Islamist terrorist groups such as Daesh, also known as IS.

But, says middle east expert Tim Eaton: “It would be misleading to say they are a coherent force that could fight IS. They are primarily fighting President Assad. And many are fighting each other. It’s unlikely that you would ever convince them to stop fighting Assad and focus entirely on fighting IS.”

Eaton added: “Saudi Arabia and Turkey both heavily fund the opposition, as does Qatar. The trouble is the regional and international players want different outcomes, which is only serving to escalate the conflict.”

SO WHO ARE THE MAIN PLAYERS?

The roots of the civil war are in the Arab Spring of 2011 when Syrians began to protest against the authoritarian Assad regime. Peaceful protest became violent after a brutal government crackdown. Deserters from the Syrian Army and rebel groups formed the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

Despite support from Western governments, Turkey and Qatar, the FSA split into competing groups reshaped along sectarian lines. Now called the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army (SMC for short) it is led by Brig Gen Salim Idris but he does not have much control over the loose network of affiliated brigades and is more of a figurehead used to channel arms shipments and foreign funding.

The brigades have separate agendas with some in league with fundamentalist Syrian Islamist outfits like Ahrar al-Sham. Groups affiliated to the SMC include the Islamist Northern Storm Brigade, the Martyrs of Syria Brigade, led by Jamal Maarouf, and the Ahrar Souriya Brigade.

WHO ELSE IS FIGHTING?

Also opposed to Assad is the Islamic Front, with an estimated 45,000-strong fighting force. Formed two years ago from seven Islamist groups – Liwa al-Haqq, the Kurdish Islamic Front, Ansar al-Sham, Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya, Suqour al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam and Liwa al-Tawhid, the Islamic Front claims to be an “independent political, military and social formation” that intends to “topple the Assad regime completely and build an Islamic state”.

One month after forming, the group pulled out of the SMC and although it does not include more extreme Islamist groups like the al-Nusra Front and Daesh, indications are that it would be open to working with them as it welcomes fighters from abroad as “brothers who supported us in jihad”.

SAUDI LINK

Two of the most prominent groups within the Front are Jaysh al-Islam and Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya (Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant). The latter is led by Hassan Abboud who is also called Abu Abdullah al-Hamawi.

Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya’s 10,000-20,000 fighters are particularly effective and were one of the first to capture weapons from military bases and also to use improvised bombs.

Jaysh al-Islam’s leader is Zahran Alloush who commands around 9,000 fighters. His father is a religious scholar who lives in Saudi Arabia and the group has been backed by that country in the hope that it can hold back the al Qaeda-linked groups surrounding the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Alloush is in overall charge of around 50 Islamist factions including Liwa al-Islam which has claimed it carried out the bombing of the National Security Bureau’s HQ in Damascus three years ago which killed Assad’s brother-in-law and a number of senior security officers.

WESTERN TARGETS

Daesh and the Nusra Front remain the most well-known international jihadist forces fighting in Syria. Linked to al Qaeda, the Nusra Front is one of the most lethal opposition forces with its members fighting in 11 of Syria’s provinces. It was named by the US as a terrorist organisation three years ago but has built up support within Syria by providing social services. Its leader is Abu Mohammed al-Julani and it has around 7,000 fighters.

Many of the estimated 5,000 fighters in Daesh, which is led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, are foreigners. Also known as Ibrahim al-Samarrai, al-Baghdadi, he was last month declared the world’s public enemy number one by the UN. While Daesh has a big presence in Raqqa, Aleppo and Idlib provinces it has clashed with the more moderate Islamist factions under the Syrian Islamic Front umbrella. A coalition of groups including Ahrar al-Sham and the Nusra Front, known collectively as Jaish al-Fateh, have been backed by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in a bid to prevent Daesh’s expansion.

DEATH TOLL RISES

One of the most effective opponents of Daesh has been the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG) which has beaten the Islamist militants from their territory near the Turkish border. Seeking Kurdish autonomy, the Syrian Kurds have backing from Kurds in Turkey and Iraq but are bitterly opposed by the Turkish government which has a record of suppressing Kurdish dissent.

There are also a number of independent groups in the mix.

While the battle lines are continually moving, the death toll and human suffering is escalating. According to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights over 300,000 people have died, with 7.6 million people displaced within the country, and over 4m registered refugees who have risked their lives to escape to Europe.