Azaz City Agreement between Ahrar al-Sham (AAS) and Jabhat al-Sham

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Country/entity: Syria
Region: Middle East and North Africa
Agreement name: Azaz City Agreement between Ahrar al-Sham (AAS) and Jabhat al-Sham
Date: 13 Nov 2016
Agreement status: Multiparty signed/agreed
Interim arrangement: Yes
Agreement/conflict level: Intrastate/local conflict
Syrian Conflicts (1948 - ) (1976 - 2005) (2011 - )
The agreements relate to three different conflict contexts. Israel-Syria and Syria-Lebanon. The Syrian-Israeli conflict was a key factor for the Syrian intervention during the Lebanese Civil War, with Syrian-backed Palestinian Liberation Army units intervened in 1976 against the Palestinian/Leftist militias. Following a massacre at Tel al-Zaatar that year, Syria was forced to accept a ceasefire at a meeting of the Arab League. However, the Arab League also mandated an Arab Deterrence Force, consisting of mostly Syrian soldiers with token contributions from other Arab League states, thus further legitimizing the Syrian presence in Lebanon. During a second bout of fighting that began in 1989, caused by the formation of rival Lebanese regimes in East and West Beirut, the Syrian-backed regime won and in 1991 the ‘Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination’ was signed to legalize the Syrian occupation as a means to ensure the security of Syria. Syrian forces were forced to withdraw in 2005 following possible involvement in the assassination of Lebanon’s President Hariri.

Syria-internal. In 2011, domestic upheaval following a wave of protests across the Arab World soon led to violent repression of protestors by Syrian government troops. The violence progressed steadily and by July 2011 the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was formed consisting of defected military units and new recruits. The FSA and rebel umbrella group known as the Syrian National Council represented the first attempt at coordinating rebel factions in late 2011. However, a steady influx of foreign fighters and increased sectarianism radicalised opposition groups, which relied on foreign funding. The nature of the conflict changed drastically in late 2013 as infighting among the opposition groups increased. One of the more significant developments was the split between the al-Qaeda outfits the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS), and Jabhat al-Nusra in early 2014 in addition to the intensified targeting of other rebel factions by ISIS fighters in particular, including the Kurdish Peshmerga, the FSA and other jihadist outfits. Since the summer of 2014, the conflict was further internationalized when ISIS announced the formation of an Islamic state eroding the state line between Iraq and Syria and also in mid-2015 when Russian forces intervened on behalf of the Bashar al-Assad government in Damascus.
Stage: Implementation/renegotiation
Conflict nature: Inter-group
Peace process: Syrian Local Agreements
Parties: Harakat Ahrar al-Sham;
Jabhat al- Shamiyya
Third parties: President of the Central Court – Azaz, [illegible]
Description: Following a dispute over a checkpoint in the City of Afrin between Harakat Ahrar al-Sham and Jabhat al-Shamiyya, the Central Court in Azaz ruled that Harakat Ahrar al-Sham owes an apology to Jabhat al-Shamiyya and that control over the checkpoint return to the Central Court according to the previous rulling on 25/7/2016.

Agreement document: SY_161114_Azaz City Agreement Between Ahrar Al-Sham and Jabhat al-Sham_EN.pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF
Agreement document (original language): SY_161114_Azaz City Agreement Between Ahrar Al-Sham and Jabhat al-Sham_AR.pdf (opens in new tab)| Download PDF

Local agreement properties

Process type: Formal structured process
Rationale: -> Local issues only; external support mechanism; culture of signing The agreement deals with an issue that has previously been solved by a Central Court between the two parties. There is thus a culture of signing and an external judicial mechanism to support the resolution of the conflict. The issue at stake, that concerns a checkpoint in the city of Afrin, is apparently persistent.
Is there a documented link to a national peace process?: No
Link to national process: articulated rationale: No link to the national peace process in Syria is mentioned in the agreement, neither it can be inferred from further research. First, the agreement does not involve local governance actors; and the signing parties themselves are not official state representative. Second, the parties to the dispute share a Salafi ideology and reject the national peace process, as it would maintain Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government in power.
Name of Locale: Afrin
Nature of Locale: Smaller
GPS Lat/Long (DD): 36.509973, 36.860288
Participant type: Local state actor
Local armed group
Mediator, facilitator or similar: Mediator or similar referred to
Mediator (references): Central Court of Azaz
Type of mediator/facilitator/similar: Local state actor

Local issues

Ritual/prayer and process (including use of scripture): Page 1, In the name of Allah the Merciful

Page 1, (Allah be behind our intention)
Grievance List: The agreement addresses grievances that arose over the control of a checkpoint in the city of Afrin.

Page 1,
On Wednesday 9/11/2016, members of Harakat Ahrar al-Sham, under the lead of Abu Hussni Ahrar, came to the mentioned checkpoint, dismissed the members of the court and took over the checkpoint with the force of weapons on the grounds that the court will not ban the passage of cars from the Bab al-Salama crossing towards the city of Afrin.
Despite the request of the Central Court to Abi al-Waleed Ahrar al-Sham, Deputy Commander of Harakat Ahrar al-Sham in Azaz, to implement the agreement according to its wording, he did not do so. He did not take the incident of the checkpoint seriously, stating that 80% of the resources of the checkpoint belong to Harakat Ahrar al-Sham.
Cattle rustling/banditry: No specific mention.
Social cover: No specific mention.

In the name of Allah the Merciful

Statement

[Illegible]

Council of [illegible]

The present Central Court in Azaz has entered the conflict situation that has arisen between Harakat Ahrar al-Sham [The Movement of the Free Men of the Levant] on the one side and Jabhat al- Shamiyya [The Levant Front] on the other side concerning the dispute that arose by the major traffic checkpoint in the city of Afrin.

The solution of the situation was that the Central Court will supervise the situation in Azaz by overlooking the conduct of the affairs of the checkpoint and crossing to the city of Afrin by removing the two sides from the management of the checkpoint.

The Central Court will take over [the management].

The checkpoint of the National Hospital will be subject to supervision and management standards.

This was agreed on 25/7/2016.

On Wednesday 9/11/2016, members of Harakat Ahrar al-Sham, under the lead of Abu Hussni Ahrar, came to the mentioned checkpoint, dismissed the members of the court and took over the checkpoint with the force of weapons on the grounds that the court will not ban the passage of cars from the Bab al-Salama crossing towards the city of Afrin.

Despite the request of the Central Court to Abi al-Waleed Ahrar al-Sham, Deputy Commander of Harakat Ahrar al-Sham in Azaz, to implement the agreement according to its wording, he did not do so.

He did not take the incident of the checkpoint seriously, stating that 80% of the resources of the checkpoint belong to Harakat Ahrar al-Sham.

In order for the Central Court in the province to follow its principle of neutrality in dealing with general issues, the Court has decided that:

There will be an apology for dismissing the implementation of the mentioned agreement between the two sides.

The elements of the judicial control and its official documents will be withdrawn.

(Allah be behind our intention)

President of the Central Court – Azaz

[illegible]