Al-Bab Military Council

The al-Bab Military Council was formed on 14 August 2016 by seven small SDF-affiliated factions with the goal of capturing the city of al-Bab, which they described as "a symbol of the revolution and the foundation for a democratic, free and plural Syria". It called for US military support. Afrin-based SDF forces, cut off from the rest of the SDF by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, launched an offensive in the countryside west of al-Bab in September.[2][3] Amid the Battle of al-Bab and the wider Operation Euphrates Shield, the BMC fought alongside the People's Protection Units (YPG) against the Islamic State and the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA) in an attempt to capture al-Bab before Turkey did.[4] The BMC and its allies were unable to reach the city, however, and al-Bab and its surroundings consequently became part of the Turkish occupation zone in northern Syria.[5] Since then, the BMC has frequently reiterated its intention to end the Turkish occupation of the region.[6][7][8][9]

As clashes between the SDF and the Turkish-backed forces increased in March 2017, the SDF made a deal with the Syrian government and agreed to the posting of loyalist Syrian border guards in SDF-held areas to defuse tensions.[10][11] The BMC coordinated with these border guards to counter attacks by the TFSA.[11] The group maintained a presence in several villages that bordered on Turkish-held territories, and repeatedly clashed with Turkish-backed forces.[12]

After the village of Arima was formally placed under Syrian Army control on 25 December 2018 following a deal between the SDF and the Syrian government,[13][14] the BMC (along with the Manbij Military Council and Kurdish Front) was one of the SDF units which maintained a presence in the village.[15] In early January 2019, several clashes took place between the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA, previously known as the TFSA) and the BMC near Arima.[16][17] In response, BMC fighters, led by their commander Jamal Abu Juma, conducted joint patrols with Russian Armed Forces soldiers in the area where the joint SDF-Syrian Army zone bordered on Turkish-held territories.[18][19] Sporadic fighting continued between the BMC and SNA.[20]

The BMC initially consisted of seven militias, two Arab units (Al-Bab Revolutionary Front and Free Arima Battalion), two Kurdish groups (Qebasin Martyrs Brigade and Kieba Martyrs Brigade), one Turkmen militia (Seljuq Brigade), and two ethnically mixed units (Al-Bab Countryside Martyrs Battalion and Martyr Silo al-Rai Brigade).[4]

In October 2016, an all-female battalion was established.[21] This unit started to recruit women among the refugees from al-Bab, especially those who had suffered at the hands of ISIL.[21][22][23]

Jamal Abu Juma is the commander of the BMC.[6][24][18] By February 2019, he had survived 15 assassination attempts.[25]

• Heing, Bridey (2018). Cultural Destruction by ISIS. The Crimes of ISIS. New York: Enslow Publishing. ISBN 9780766092150. LCCN 2017026280. Retrieved 7 July 2020.