Bakour al-Salim
Founding commander in faction interview; death announced in June 2016.
RESEARCH EXPANSION · REVIEWED 27 OCTOBER 2026
Leadership and Command Structure: 2013–2018
A source-linked chronology of roles, appointments and unresolved transitions.
Working chronology. Names and appointments in supplied papers are document claims. No power struggle, irregularity or criminal conduct is inferred from a change in title.
Khaled al-Salim
Named successor in 16 June 2016 supplied announcement.
Ahmad al-Tamer
Captain; deputy in 17 June document; supreme commander in 2017 interview.
Saleh al-Saleh
External political-relations coordinator interviewed in 2017.
Leadership chronology
Leadership · Public statements
Formation dated by faction representative
- Event / document date
- 2013-08 (month)
- Report / publication date
- 2017-02-28
Founding account names Bakour al-Salim and Ahmad al-Tamer.
Leadership · Internal archive documents
Death announcement for Bakour al-Salim
- Event / document date
- 2016-06-09 (day)
- Report / publication date
- 2016-06-09
The announcement attributes his death at dawn on 9 June to an ISIS suicide operation at a faction base in the Syrian Badia. These are source claims; the precise mechanism and time are not independently established here.
Leadership · Internal archive documents
Khaled al-Salim named successor
- Event / document date
- 2016-06-16 (day)
- Report / publication date
- 2016-06-16
Appointment claim in supplied statement.
Leadership · Internal archive documents
Ahmad al-Tamer named deputy
- Event / document date
- 2016-06-17 (day)
- Report / publication date
- 2016-06-17
Arabic appointment order and later English derivative; not two independent witnesses.
Public statements · Public statements
Faction interview published
- Event / document date
- 2017-02-28 (day)
- Report / publication date
- 2017-02-28
Saleh al-Saleh answers online; Tamer is described as supreme commander.
The missing appointment
The 17 June Arabic order names Tamer as deputy under Khaled al-Salim. The 28 February interview later calls him supreme commander. An intervening appointment could reconcile the two, but no authenticated intervening order has been found here. The original supplied order was inspected again during this expansion.
How evidence is classified
- Documented
- Authenticated primary material or comparably strong evidence.
- Independently Reported
- Identifiable published reporting; the underlying event may still depend on attributed or anonymous sources.
- Corroborated
- Multiple meaningfully independent lines of evidence, not translations or syndicated copies.
- Unverified
- A supplied document or attributed claim whose underlying truth is not established.
- Disputed
- Credible sources materially disagree; ordinary changes over time do not qualify.
- Research Lead
- An unresolved question, not an established relationship.
A visual edge means only its labeled relationship. Placement never implies guilt, financial ownership, coordination or a payment. Syndicated copies and supplied translations are not independent corroboration.