Talk:Islamic Front (Syria)

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Size of the Islamic Front
In the last few days, a number of analysts have flooded the internet with estamates of how lage the Islamic Front is. These estimates range from 30.000 to 100.000 members. I went on for a search, and found the following numbers


 * Liwa al-Tawheed brigade: 11.000
 * Ahrar al-Sham (Syrian Islamic Front): 20.000 - 25.000
 * Suqour al-Sham: 8000
 * Jaysh al-Islam (formerly Army of Islam): 20.000 - 25.000
 * Al-Haqq brigades: estimated above 3000

The total manpower of the Islamic Front should this way range between 65.000 and 75.000 fighters. This way, the Islamic Front encompases around 60% of the total Syrian rebel presence:


 * FSA: 40.000
 * Islamic Front: 65.000-75.000
 * Jabhat al-Nusra: 10.000
 * Isis: 6000-12.000

Anybody else here that thinks the number of 100.000 should be changed to between 65.000 and 75.000 fighters?


 * Well, I read the link given for the 100,000 estimate, and the article seems to be combining the dozens of armed groups that was part of both the SILF and the SIF, and yet there are only officially 7 groups in the IF, so not a very reliable source. Gazkthul (talk) 21:55, 15 December 2013 (UTC)

The Syrian Islamic Front has said on its' Google Plus page that it will operate as part of the Islamic Front;. The Syrian Islamic Liberation Front, as far as I can tell, only announces that it will dissolve; there is no explicit statement indicating that it will be part of the Islamic Front (Syria).David O. Johnson (talk) 18:30, 16 December 2013 (UTC)

According to the BBC: "The announcement led to the dissolution of the Syrian Islamic Front (SIF), which was dominated by Ahrar al-Sham, and the effective break-up of the SMC-aligned Syrian Islamic Liberation Front (SILF)."  100,000 is likely too large a number, but the current number may be too low given the other groups that were part of the SIF and the SILF.David O. Johnson (talk) 22:07, 16 December 2013 (UTC)

I've been searching around the web for the size of the Islamic Front. I've come up with this:


 * Liwa al-Tawheed: 11.000
 * Kurdish Islamic Front: 1000
 * SIF (Ahrar al-Sham/Liwa al-Haqq): 13.000
 * Suqour al-Sham: 9000
 * Jaysh al-Islam: 25.000


 * Total: 59.000

Liwa al-Tawheed has always been stable between 10.000 and 12.000 fighters, as it is the most powerful brigade in Aleppo. The Kurdish Islamic Front was estimated to be around 1000 fighters, mainly in Aleppo. Suqour al-Sham is formerly of the FSA and has around 9000 soldiers. It seems to be one of the two most powerfull brigades in Idlib (together with the Idlib Martyrs Brigade). Jaysh al-Islam was also a fairly safe guess, as it was itself a merger of several rebel brigades in Damascus and Rif Damash. Independant estimates on the Jaysh al-Islam page give a number of around 25.000 fighters. The Syrian Islamic Front was a little harder, since it began with over 25.000 fighters. May 2013 estimates were down to 13.000 however, as the SIF got head to head with Nusra and ISIS. Ahrar al-Sham itself however still numbered some 12.000 fighters. So the 13.000 given here can be too low, as the Jaysh al-Islam number can be exagerated. So, in total, we should agree to a total of around 60.000 fighters. I propose to make it "50.000 - 60.000" to encompas any faults. This indeed makes the Islamic Front slighty more powerfull than the 40.000 - 50.000 fighters of the FSA.

Source 1: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/report/2013/05/14/63221/the-structure-and-organization-of-the-syrian-opposition/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.31.204.195 (talk) 13:20, 22 December 2013 (UTC)

Flag of the Islamic Front
the IF has two flags. a White Administration flag and a Black war Flag like Al-Shabaab. This is clearly seen as the armed members carry the black one while the white flag is raised in the areas they Administer. I belevie we should put both in the article. can MrPenguin20 help me with that? 3bdulelah (talk) 10:19, 15 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Aaah that makes sense. I'll reupload the white one to wikicommons. MrPenguin20 (talk) 12:10, 15 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks. 3bdulelah (talk) 16:54, 15 January 2014 (UTC)
 * No problem! MrPenguin20 (talk) 01:34, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

Rename to "Islamic Front"
Should this article be renamed Islamic Front on the basis that it is now the primary topic for the term? Nurg (talk) 02:41, 20 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Yes. --78.145.9.156 (talk) 16:58, 20 June 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 3 one external links on Islamic Front (Syria). Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20140105165402/http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Syrian+activists+least+rebels+have+died+battle+army+base/9199491/story.html to http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Syrian+activists+least+rebels+have+died+battle+army+base/9199491/story.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20131216044518/http://syrialiberationfront.net:80/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AD%D9%84-%D8%AC%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9/ to http://syrialiberationfront.net/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AD%D9%84-%D8%AC%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%A9/
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20140519055312/http://carnegie-mec.org/syriaincrisis/index.cfm?fa=53679&lang=en&postCommentStatus=1&reloadFlag=1 to http://carnegie-mec.org/syriaincrisis/index.cfm?fa=53679&lang=en&postCommentStatus=1&reloadFlag=1

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 16:30, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Objectives
I cleaned up the "Objectives" section, removing the Arabic phrases and the more obscure theological language, and expanded it as well based on material from the Jaysh al-Islam and Zahran Alloush pages. Even though the new material is more about the views of JAI and Alloush specifically rather than the whole IF umbrella, I think this is relevant as Alloush has been the most iconic figure in IF and JAI is its largest faction. If the rest of the group can be shown to differ substantially with Alloush's views, I suggest adding. not subtracting.

Right now, the expanded section can be said to be more descriptive of the group's leaders' ideology rather solely their stated objectives, so perhaps the section may be renamed "Objectives and ideology".

183.89.37.190 (talk) 07:53, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

EDIT: I merged the "Objectives" and "Views" sections, integrating all existing sourced material into a cleaner text. 183.89.37.190 (talk) 08:12, 1 April 2016 (UTC)