Al-Haramein Battalion

The Battalion of the Two Holy Mosques
كتيبة الحرمين
Al-Haramein Battalion
LeadersSharif as-Safouri
HeadquartersHit
Active regionsDaraa Governorate
IdeologyRevolution / Opposition
Part ofSyria Free Syrian Army
AlliesIsrael Israel[1]
OpponentsSyria Ba'athist Syria
Al-Nusra Front
Battles and warsSyrian Civil War

Al-Haramein Battalion (Arabic: كتيبة الحرمين; meaning The Battalion of the Two Holy Mosques) is a Free Syrian Army's rebel group which operated in Hit and its surrounding areas in Daraa Governorate, specifically near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in southern Syria, during the Syrian Civil War. The group was led by Sharif as-Safouri. This group was known to receive Israeli support alongside several other Syrian opposition factions such as Fursan al-Joulan, Firqat Ahrar Nawa, Saif al-Sham Brigade, Jaydour Horan Brigade, Al-Ezz bin Abdul Salam Brigade, Omar Bin Al-Khattab Brigade, Jaysh al-Ababil, Alwiya al-Furqan, Syrian Revolutionaries Front, Jabhat Ansar al-Islam, Ahrar Gathering and others.

On 22 July 2014, the group's commander, Sharif as-Safouri, was abducted by al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front over allegations of cooperation with Israel. In a video uploaded to YouTube by the Executive Sharia Council in the eastern Daraa Region, an Islamic court established by Al-Nusra in southern Syria, Sharif As-Safouri, admitted to collaboration with Israel. In the edited confession video, he said that he at first met with an Israeli officer named Ashraf at the border and was given an Israeli cellular phone. He later met with another officer named Younis and with the two men’s commander, Abu Daoud. In total, Safouri said he entered Israel five times for meetings that took place in Tiberias. Following the meetings, Israel began providing Safouri and his men with “basic medical support and clothes” as well as weapons, which included 30 Russian [rifles], 10 RPG launchers with 47 rockets, and 48,000 5.56 millimeter bullets.[1]

On August 1, dozens of demonstrators took to the streets of the village of Hayt, Safouri’s hometown near Syria’s borders with Jordan and Israel, to protest his abduction, condemning Al-Nusra Front for the act.[1]

According to a 2018 investigation by Foreign Policy, Israel supported at least 12 rebel groups by providing them with humanitarian aid, medical treatments, logistical support and military transfers which included assault rifles, machine guns, mortar launchers and transport vehicles. Israel also transferred cash in the form of salaries of $75 per fighter, alongside additional funds for procuring weapons locally.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Syrian rebel commander says he collaborated with Israel". The Times of Israel. 13 August 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  2. ^ "Inside Israel's Secret Program to Back Syrian Rebels". Foreign Policy. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
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