The Fighting Vanguard in Syria: Origins, Leaders and Military Operations (1964-1982)

Author: Jacob H. Wells

Advisors: Richard W. Bulliet, David C. Cuthell

"Since its dramatic beginnings in 1964 atop a Hama mosque minaret, the group that became the Fighting Vanguard (at-tali'a al-muqatila) set up training camps in the Syrian countryside, carried out scores of unclaimed assassinations and sectarian attacks from the backs of motorbikes and detonated massive car bombs in the capital... yet the history of the Fighting Vanguard as an organization is not well documented and often written by its detractors - either members of its ever critical parent organization, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, or others reliant on the Syrian regime. The following is a brief history of the origins, leaders and military operations of the Fighting Vanguard based on its own accounts."