On 19 July 2012, the Free Syrian Army seized the border and defaced images of Bashar al-Assad but months later a-Qaeda linked groups have captured the crossing until the recent news of being controlled by IF.
In the ongoing Syrian War, Bab al-Hawa crossing was a frequent place of crossing for Syrians trying to reach the refugee camp in nearby Reyhanlı. The crossing also is a major route for smuggling, particularly oil and gas, and during the conflict has seen a dramatic rise in weapons smuggling.
The recent merger of several Syrian rebel groups into the Islamic Front
(IF) on November 22, is one of the war's most important developments. Although
the political and military opposition has long been fragmented, the new
umbrella organization brings seven groups and their combined force of
45,000-60,000 fighters under one command. It also links the fight in the north
and the south. Most notably, though, it affirms the troubles Washington will
have setting policy in Syria going forward, Aaron Y. Zelin, WI fellow
researcher said.
IF includes groups from three prior umbrella
organizations: the Syrian Islamic Front (SIF), the Syrian Islamic Liberation
Front (SILF), and the Kurdish Islamic Front (KIF). From the SIF, Harakat Ahrar
al-Sham al-Islamiyya (HASI), Kataib Ansar al-Sham, and Liwa al-Haqq joined, as
did the KIF as a whole and former SILF brigades Suqur al-Sham, Liwa al-Tawhid,
and Jaish al-Islam.
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