| Free Palestine Movement | |
|---|---|
| حركة فلسطين حرة | |
 Logo of the Free Palestine Movement | |
| Leaders |
|
| Dates of operation | c. 2003 – present |
| Groups |
|
| Active regions | Palestine,Syria,Lebanon |
| Ideology | Palestinian nationalism[2][3] Anti-Zionism[2] |
| Allies |  Syrian Arab Armed Forces National Defense Forces Fatah al-Intifada |
| Opponents |  Free Syrian Army Ahrar al-Sham Jaysh al-Islam Al-Nusra Front Islamic State Israel |
| Battles and wars | Israeli–Palestinian conflict |
TheFree Palestine Movement (Arabic:حركة فلسطين حرة) is aPalestinian Syrian armed movement and community organization that is led by the businessman Yasser Qashlaq and supported theBa'athist government ofSyria. The organization opposes the existence ofIsrael, and was mostly known for political activism and social services in favor ofPalestinians in Syria and theGaza Strip before 2012. Upon the outbreak of theSyrian Civil War, however, the Free Palestine Movement formed its ownmilitias and openly fought for the Ba'athist government against various rebel groups until thefall of the Assad regime in 2024.
The Free Palestine Movement was founded by Yasser Qashlaq, aSyria-born Palestinian businessman of considerable wealth[2] who heads several organizations including the Lebanese Institute of International Studies, the Syrian-Palestinian Investment House, the Palestinian Businessmen's Club, and also owns a small Lebanese newspaper.[4] He has been described as the "most famous real estate dealer in theYarmouk Camp".[5] According to a translation by theMiddle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Yasser called "Israeli pirates [...] dregs of European garbage", said Israelis were a "gang of criminal murderers",[3] and that Israeli Jews were "human pieces of filth"[6] who should be returned "back to their own countries".[3][6] According to MEMRI, he has stated that there is "no reason for coexistence" betweenIsraelis and Palestinians and that "Gilad Shalit [should] return to Paris. Let those murderers return to Poland. Once they are back there, we will hunt them down to the end of the world, and prosecute them for their massacres".[3] He is reportedly close to the Syrian government.[2][4] Yasser has said he had no links withHezbollah.[7]
When Yasser first became politically active in the PalestinianYarmouk Camp ofDamascus in 2003, he presented himself as supporting theSecond Intifada. Since then, he organized the Free Palestine Movement as community organization which provided social services for Palestinians in Syria and rallied support for the Baa'athist government.Atlantic Council researcher Tom Rollins wrote that the organization serves as "vehicle for [Yasser Qashlaq's] political ambitions".[2] According to Qashlaq, the Free Palestine Movement took part in organizing theFreedom Flotilla II for theGaza Strip in 2010/11.[3][8] The group armed itself in 2011, with the news siteSyria Indicator arguing that this was motivated by the need to suppress anti-Assad protests in the Yarmouk Camp.[5]
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After theSyrian Civil War's start, the Free Palestine Movement began to recruit for pro-government militias and founded its own paramilitary wing, the "Al-Aqsa Shield Forces" in 2012. The Al-Aqsa Shield Forces mostly operate in Damascus,[2] especially after an informal power-sharing agreement between the Free Palestine Movement andFatah al-Intifada, another pro-government militia, in 2016. According to this agreement Yasser Qashlaq paid Fatah al-Intifada a substantial sum for handing over parts of their frontline at the Yarmouk Camp to the Free Palestine Movement. In consequence, Yasser and his movement could gain "valuable political capital" as defenders of Yarmouk which is of great symbolic importance to thePalestinian diaspora, while Fatah al-Intifada got much-needed funds.[2] Since then, the Free Palestine Movement mostly fought theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants in Yarmouk Camp,[10] notably participating in theSouthern Damascus offensives of March[11][12] andApril and May 2018.[13][14] In the latter operation the organization's military commander, Saed Abd Al-Aal, was wounded in combat.[15] Fighters of the Free Palestine Movement have also fought in other areas of Damascus, including atHarasta in August 2017[16] and atal-Shaghour during theRif Dimashq offensive of early 2018.[17]
Though the Free Palestine Movement's activity is mostly concentrated in Damascus, the organization is known to have committed forces to fronts in other regions of Syria as well. In a notable incident in May 2013, the "Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni Battalions", another armed group affiliated with the movement,fired two mortar shells atIsrael Defense Forces positions onMount Hermon. This was reportedly done in commemoration ofNakba Day.[18][19] Troops of the Free Palestine Movement also operated inHama in late 2017,[20] and fought in theBattle of Deir ez-Zor (September–November 2017).[21]
After the Yarmouk Camp was fully secured by government forces in May 2018, some locals started to burn down their own houses to prevent them from being looted. In response, the Free Palestine Movement declared that these people would have to account for their actions, and that it would try to prevent further burnings.[22] The group, along withas-Sa'iqa andFatah al-Intifada, also started to lay off many of its fighters due to the decreasing need for them and lack of funds.[23] Commander Saed Abd Al-Aal denied this, however, and claimed that the Free Palestine Movement had simply redeployed its fighters from Damascus to other war zones.[24] When anIrish parliamentary delegation visited Yarmouk Camp in late July 2018 to evaluate the damage caused by the years-long combat, it was accompanied by Saed Abd Al-Aal.[25] The Free Palestine Movement took part in a festival in honor ofYasser Arafat on 11 November 2018.[26]
At some point in early 2019, the Free Palestine Movement sent detachments to take part incounter-insurgency operations in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, and contributed troops to theNorthwestern Syria offensive (April–August 2019). In course of the latter campaign, its troops fought atHalfaya andal-Zakah.[27][28] In October 2019, a FPM member was shot dead by unknown assailants inDa'el.[29] Meanwhile, the FPM continued to demobilize fighters due to a lack of funds.[30] From late 2019, the party's troops took part in the government'sNorthwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020).[31] Around the same time, the Free Palestine Movement was also active inLatakia Governorate, where one of its fighters was killed atSalma.[32] After the Northwestern Syria offensive's conclusion, the Free Palestine Movement continued to be active in Idlib, where it held border posts at the frontline. In February 2020, seven members of the group were killed during clashes in the region.[33]
By 2021, thehashtag #freepalestine became increasingly popular insocial media; the hashtag along with the slogan "Free Palestine" were used by activists as a "standalone phrase, not connected to any one movement or institution". However,The Jerusalem Post journalists Shira Silkoff and Eve Young argued that the existence of the Free Palestine Movement of Syria resulted in "many" regarding the slogan "Free Palestine" as "a call to violent resistance against the State of Israel as a Jewish state".[34]
In December 2023, the Free Palestine Movement organized a "solidarity stand" in the Yarmouk Camp to protest against theIsraeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. Other Syrian Palestinian individuals and representatives such as severalPalestine Liberation Army officers andPPSF leaderKhalid ʽAbd al-Majid also took part in the protest.[35]
After thefall of the Assad regime in late 2024, theSyrian transitional government demanded that all Palestinian armed groups in Syria disarm themselves, dissolve their military formations, and instead focus on political and charitable work.[36] The transitional government subsequently began prosecuting individuals who it alleged had committed crimes during the Syrian civil war, including Nidal Nimer Yousef who had held "leadership roles" in the Free Palestine Movement and other units.[37]
The Free Palestine Movement is officially led by Yasser Qashlaq,[2] while Saed Abd Al-Aal serves as the commander of the organization's paramilitary wing.[1][15] Saed Abd Al-Aal is the son of Muhammad Abdel-Al, a member of the leadership of theBa'ath Party's Palestinian branch in Syria and former Yarmouk Camp official.[5] The armed forces of the Free Palestine Movement have been described as "rag-tag militia"[10] and include the Saraya Bader,[33] the Al-Aqsa Shield Forces[2] as well as the Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni Battalions.[19] Like other pro-government militias in Syria, the Free Palestine Movement reportedly attracts new recruits with relatively high monthly salaries, as many young Syrian Palestinians are in precarious economic conditions due to the civil war and mass unemployment.[38] By November 2018, 24 fighters had died while fighting in the Syrian Civil War for the FPM.[39]
According to the pro-opposition site Zaman AlWasl and other investigators, two (ex-)members of the Free Palestine Movement, namely Mofeq AlDaouah and Mahmoud Arnaout, were involved in war crimes during the Syrian Civil War. They allegedly targeted and killed civilians during the Siege of Yarmouk Camp. In addition, Zaman AlWasl accused Mofeq of several cases of rape in Yarmouk Camp.[40][41] Mofeq was nicknamed the "Butcher of Yarmouk" for his actions.[41] After moving to Germany as arefugee,[41] Mofeq was arrested by the German police inBerlin on 4 August 2021. He was accused of having fired an anti-tank weapon into a crowd of civilians, who were waiting for UN food handouts on 23 March 2014 in Yarmouk Camp. At least seven people were killed in the attack.[41][42] In February 2023, Mofeq was sentenced to life imprisonment by a German court.[41]
According to local activists, the Free Palestine Movement is also involved in criminal business schemes which pressured residents of Yarmouk Camp to sell property under value to make way for a major reconstruction plan of the cityscape.[43] The militia is reportedly supported by the Al-Shihabi Contracting Company, a company accused of obtaining building materials for free at the expense of the PLO during the reconstruction of Yarmouk Camp.[5]
