Eagles of the Whirlwind explained

Eagles of the Whirlwind
Native Name:نسور الزوبعة
Active:1975–present (in Lebanon)
2012–2019 (in Syria)
Dissolved:November 2019 (in Syria only)
Ideology:Fascism
Social nationalism
Syrian nationalism
Syrian irredentism[1]
Pro-Syrian government
Anti-Zionism
Area:Syria, Lebanon
Size:6,000–8,000 (in Syria)
Partof: Syrian Social Nationalist Party
Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon
Allies:



Sootoro
Ba'ath Brigades (Until 2019)
Popular Committees (Until 2019)
Amal Movement
Lebanese National Resistance Front (1982-1991)
March 8 Alliance

Opponents: Free Syrian Army
Islamic Front
Al-Nusra Front
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
Lebanese Forces (Until 1991)
South Lebanon Army (Until 2000)
Battles:
Identification Symbol Label:Flag

The Eagles of the Whirlwind (Arabic: نسور الزوبعة, Nusour al Zawba'a) are the armed wing of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Around 6,000 to 8,000 men strong,[14] they participated in many battles and operations throughout the Syrian Civil War fighting alongside the Syrian government and its allies.

After the civil war in Syria turned into a full-scale war, the Eagles began taking recruits and their fighters were primarily deployed in the governorates of Homs and Damascus and were said to be the most formidable military force other than the Syrian Army in Suweida.[15] Their most notable military operations is their participation in the battles of Sadad, Ma'loula, and al-Qaryatayn, among others.[16]

As part of campaigns launched by the Ba'ath party to strengthen its role in Syrian society since 2019,[17] Syrian wing of SSNP (Amana) financed by businessman Rami Makhlouf was banned.[18] This was part of the wider clampdown on business assets and private militias of Rami Makhlouf ordered by Bashar al-Assad.[19] In November 2019, Ba'athist authorities initiated crackdown on armed SSNP militias across the country, and dismantled Eagles of Whirlwind. EOW fighters were subsequently assimilated into Russian-backed Fifth Corps after surrendering their artillery.[20] [21] [18]

In Lebanon, the Eagles, mainly composed of Orthodox Christians and Shiite Muslims, have been active since the Lebanese Civil War by integrating the Lebanese National Resistance Front with the support of the Syrian Armed Forces, who fought the Lebanese Forces and allied Maronite militias of Israel. They recently participated in the 2023–2024 border clashes against the Israeli army alongside Hezbollah, with which they have a history of armed cooperation since the 1990s against the Israeli army.

Ideology

The eagles were the armed wing of the SSNP and thus shared the same ideologies and goals. The SSNP's core ideology is Syrian nationalism and the belief in the concept of a 'Greater Syria' or 'Natural Syria' which extends from the Taurus range north of Syria to the Suez Canal in Egypt, thus encompassing the modern states of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Palestine, Israel and parts of Egypt, Turkey and Iran. Despite political differences with the ruling Ba'ath party, SSNP has stood by the Syrian government throughout the course of the Syrian civil war.

The Eagles are anti-Zionist because, following the ideology of Pan-Syrianism, they consider Palestine to be part of natural Greater Syria.

Allied with the Syrian Ba'ath Party despite ideological differences, the SSNP and its armed wing supported the Syrian Ba'athist government during the Lebanese Civil War, the Syrian occupation of Lebanon and then the Syrian Civil War.

History

Creation in Lebanon

The Eagles were formed in Lebanon in 1975, at the start of the Lebanese Civil War. They specialize in guerrilla actions and harassment of enemy troops. They formed an allied squad and then member of the Lebanese National Movement and then its successor, the Lebanese National Resistance Front, which brings together opponents of the Lebanese Front. At the same time, the divided SSNP reunified under a common leadership based in Beirut in 1978. The SSNP-L found its natural allies in the Palestinian guerrillas, mainly Fatah and the PFLP, as well as in its former bitter enemies: left-wing Arab nationalist movements, the Syrian Ba'ath Party and the communists.

The Eagles developed during the 1980s where they attacked and harassed both the Lebanese Forces and the Israeli Army, with some members using suicide bombings to destroy groups of enemy factions.

After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the subsequent renewal of left-wing forces, a number of left-wing organizations banded together to participate in resistance to the Israeli occupation. Alongside the Lebanese Communist Party, the Organization of Communist Action in Lebanon, and some small left-wing groups, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party played a leading role in this regard. One of the most prominent sparks of resistance was the assassination of two Israeli soldiers at the Wimpy Café in the middle of Hamra Street, west Beirut, by party member Khaled Alwan. The party continues to celebrate this date. The FBI blamed them for the 1982 assassination of Bachir Gemayel, then Lebanese president-elect, who was supported by the Israeli invaders besieging Beirut.[22]

In 1983, the SSNP joined the Lebanese National Salvation Front alongside the Marada Brigade, a Christian militia allied with Damascus. The same year, the party joined the Lebanese National Resistance Front, created to oppose the failure of the May 17 agreement with Israel, signed by Bachir Gemayel's brother, Amine Gemayel. Some party members were willing to sacrifice their lives by participating in suicide bombings against Israel, the first in 1985. One of the party's members, Sanaa Mehaidli, a sixteen-year-old member of the Eagles who committed a suicide attack against an Israeli checkpoint in Lebanon, was considered "a predecessor of all the martyrs of the Palestinian cause."[23]

Within the Lebanese National Resistance Front, the Eagles participated alongside Hezbollah in the war against the Israeli Army and its collaborators in the South Lebanon Army, thus explaining why the Eagles did not surrender their arms after the end of the Lebanese civil war, as they participated in the anti-Israeli war in South Lebanon between 1991 and 2000.

In 2006, the Eagles participated, in collaboration with Hezbollah, in the 2006 Israel–Lebanon War.

In Syria

In 2011, against the backdrop of the Arab Spring, a rebellion broke out in Syria, leading to the Syrian Civil War. The Syrian branch of the Eagles was formed in 2012 and supports loyalist forces but is autonomous from the Syrian armed forces.[24] The Syrian Eagles also fought alongside Hezbollah and the Syrian Armed Forces against various rebel and jihadist groups, notably during the battle of Maaloula where the town, inhabited by Christians (like most of the Eagles including a large number of them are Christians), had fallen into the hands of Sunni Islamist insurgents of the al-Nusra Front.[25] Subsequently, the Eagles, in cooperation with Hezbollah, participated in the Battle of Zabadani supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.[26] They also took part in the Battle of Aleppo, allied to the pro-Assad Palestinian units of the Liwa al-Quds, Hezbollah, various Shiite militias of Iraq and the Ba'ath Brigades which ended by a decisive victory for the Syrian Arab Republic against ISIL and the rebels of the Free Syrian Army.[27]

In 2019, the Syrian Ba'athist government decided to integrate the Eagles into the Syrian Arab Army.[17]

Israeli-Lebanese clashes of 2023-2024

The Lebanese branch of the Eagles are participating in the ongoing war on the Lebanese border alongside Hezbollah against Israeli forces, following the Israel-Hamas War.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Solomon . Chris . McDonald . Jesse . Grinstead . Nick . January 2019 . Eagles riding the storm of war: CRU Policy Brief The role of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party . CRU Policy Brief . Clingendael Institute . 2, 3 . Clingendael.
  2. Web site: Syrian Army and Hezbollah advance in southern al-Zabadani. Al Masdar News. 4 April 2018. 5 February 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190205001823/https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-and-hezbollah-advance-in-southern-al-zabadani/. dead.
  3. Web site: Syrian Army goes all-in on Aleppo as more reinforcements pour into the city. Al Masdar News. 4 April 2018.
  4. Web site: Syrian Army secures Ghaniyah in the al-Ghaab plains. Al Masdar News. 4 April 2018. 14 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160314224810/http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-secures-ghaniyah-in-the-al-ghaab-plains/. dead.
  5. Web site: Islamist Rebels Announce the 2nd Phase of Their Wide-Scale Offensive in Hama. Leith Fadel. Al-Masdar News. 17 October 2015. 10 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151210222011/http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/islamist-rebels-announce-the-2nd-phase-of-their-wide-scale-offensive-in-hama/. dead.
  6. Web site: Syrian Army captures Beit Fares village in northern Latakia. Al Masdar News. 4 April 2018. 22 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190422101329/https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-captures-beit-fares-village-in-northern-latakia/. dead.
  7. Web site: Syrian Army recaptures key village in northern Latakia. Al Masdar News. 4 April 2018. 3 February 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190203133924/https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-recaptures-key-village-northern-latakia/. dead.
  8. Web site: Syrian army prepares large-scale offensive in northern Hama. Al Masdar News. 4 April 2018. 16 September 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160916202711/https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-prepares-large-scale-offensive-northern-hama/. dead.
  9. Web site: Der Syrische Bürgerkrieg. Truppendienst. 4 April 2018.
  10. Web site: The SSNP 'Hurricane' in the Syrian Conflict: Syria and South Lebanon Are the Same Battlefield. Al Akhbar News. 4 April 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181002171756/https://english.al-akhbar.com/node/18502. 2 October 2018. dead.
  11. Web site: In pictures: SSNP forces crack ISIL's lines in southeast Syria . Leith Aboufadel . . 18 June 2018 . 17 July 2018 . 2 May 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190502052921/https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/in-pictures-ssnp-forces-crack-isils-lines-in-southeast-syria/ . dead .
  12. Web site: The Suwayda' Attacks: Interview . . 27 July 2018 . 4 August 2018 .
  13. Web site: Yusuf . Muhammad . December 15, 2023 . "الحزب السوري القومي الاجتماعي" نعى عنصرًا له أثناء "قيامه بواجبه القوميّ على طريق فلسطين" . "The Syrian Social Nationalist Party" mourned the death of a member who was "carrying out his nationalist duty for the Palestinian cause" . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20240324121118/https://gulf365.net/world-news/12295211/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B2%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%88%D9%85%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A-%D9%86%D8%B9%D9%89-%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%8B%D8%A7-%D9%84%D9%87-%D8%A3%D8%AB%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%87-%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%A8%D9%87-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%88%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%91-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%82-%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86.html . 2024-03-24 . December 22, 2023 . gulf365.net . ar.
  14. Web site: The Eagles of the Whirlwind - Foreign Policy. 22 February 2024 .
  15. Web site: The SSNP 'Hurricane' in the Syrian Conflict: Syria and South Lebanon Are the Same Battlefield. Al Akhbar English. 4 April 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181002171756/https://english.al-akhbar.com/node/18502. 2 October 2018. dead.
  16. News: Natalia Sancha . 5 April 2016 . El Ejército sirio expulsa al Estado Islámico del desierto . Syrian Army drives Islamic State from the desert . 11 April 2016 . El País . es.
  17. Web site: Abdul-Jalil . Murad . Moghrabi . Yamen . 3 July 2020 . Al-Assad attempts to boost "Ba'ath" vigor to tighten control . https://web.archive.org/web/20200706222249/https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2020/07/al-assad-attempts-to-boost-baath-vigor-to-tighten-control/ . 6 July 2020 . Enab Baladi.
  18. Web site: Shaar . Karam . Akil . Samy . 28 January 2021 . Inside Syria's Clapping Chamber: Dynamics of the 2020 Parliamentary Elections . https://web.archive.org/web/20210128162146/https://www.mei.edu/publications/inside-syrias-clapping-chamber-dynamics-2020-parliamentary-elections . 28 January 2021 . Middle East Institute.
  19. Web site: 15 May 2020 . The Intractable Roots of Assad-Makhlouf Drama in Syria . https://web.archive.org/web/20210307234409/https://newlinesinstitute.org/syria/the-intractable-roots-of-assad-makhlouf-drama-in-syria/ . 7 March 2021 . Newslines Institute.
  20. News: Kataw . Nawwar . 14 October 2019 . هل هي خطوة انتقامية من آل مخلوف؟ كل ما تريد معرفته عن الحزب القومي السوري الاجتماعي وحل النظام له . Is it a revenge move from the Makhlouf family? All you need to know about the Syrian National Social Party and the regime's solution to it . Arab Post . https://web.archive.org/web/20230428181027/https://arabicpost.net/%D8%AB%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A9/2019/10/14/%D8%AD%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B2%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%88%D9%85%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A/ . 28 April 2023.
  21. News: Kanjou . Hassan . 13 November 2019 . لماذا أخلت ميليشيا "نسور الزوبعة" معسكراتها في حمص؟ . Why did the "Eagles of Whirlwind" militia evacuate its camps in Homs? . Orient Net . https://web.archive.org/web/20191114154804/https://orient-news.net/ar/news_show/174023/0/%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B0%D8%A7-%D8%A3%D8%AE%D9%84%D8%AA-%D9%85%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D9%86%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B2%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%A7-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%B5 . 14 November 2019.
  22. News: Neil A. Lewis. U.S. Links Men in Bomb Case To Lebanon Terrorist Group. The New York Times. May 18, 1988.
  23. Book: Gambetta, Diego . Making Sense of Suicide Missions . 2006 . 0-19-929797-5 . Oxford University Press . Oxford University Press . illustrated . 262,288 for suicide attacks; 87,344 for Sana Mehaidli; 80 for guerrilla.
  24. Web site: Samaha . Nour . The Eagles of the Whirlwind . Foreign Policy . 28 March 2016 .
  25. Web site: The SSNP 'Hurricane' in the Syrian conflict: Syria and South Lebanon Are The Same BattlefieldAl-Akhbar in English . https://web.archive.org/web/20160927035059/http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/18502 . 2016-09-27 . dead .
  26. Web site: Fadel . Leith . July 24, 2015 . Syrian Army and Hezbollah Advance in Southern Al-Zabadani . https://web.archive.org/web/20150801182237/http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-and-hezbollah-advance-in-southern-al-zabadani/ . 2015-08-01 . January 23, 2024 . en.
  27. News: Syrian Army goes all in on Aleppo as more reinforcements pour into the city – Map update. Chris. Tomson. Al-Masdar News. November 25, 2016.