The Levantine Front

The Levantine Front (al-Jabhat al-Shamiya), also known as the Levant Front, was founded on December 25, 2014 by the Islamic Front of Aleppo (not to be confused with the Islamic Front umbrella group), a group composed of Liwa al-Tawhid other former Islamic Front umbrella group battalions, and four other Aleppo-based opposition groups. The Levantine Front was created to counter Syrian army and Islamic State (IS) advances in Aleppo and was initially led by former Liwa al-Tawhid commander Abdul-Aziz Salameh. After preventing pro-Regime forces from encircling the city of Aleppo in late 2014, the group began to splinter and did not prevent former Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (Fatah al-Sham), formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, from destroying Harakat Hazm, a group that joined the Levantine Front in January 2015 and was funded by the United States. The Levantine Front officially dissolved in April 2015 due to lack of funding, although some reports indicate that an attempt to replace Abdul-Aziz Salameh as the group’s commander also contributed to its dissolution. While some analysts claim that former Levantine Front fighters joined other groups within the Fatah Halab control room, a military alliance of more than 30 Aleppo-based militant groups that cooperates with Fatah al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham, others claim that the Levantine Front reestablished itself as an independent group within Fatah Halab on June 18, 2015 with Ahrar al-Sham commander Abu Amr as its leader.