Syrian Popular Resistance

Syrian Popular Resistance (Arabic: المقاومة الشعبية السورية, romanized: al-Muqāwama ash-Shaʻbīya as-Sūrīya) is an Assadist insurgent group engaging in an insurgency against the Syrian transitional government and, on one occasion, also targeting Israeli forces.

The Syrian Popular Resistance (SPR) was established in December 2024 following the fall of the government of Bashar al-Assad due to the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives. On 30 December 2024, they released a statement on stating that they vowed to kill the leaders of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), soldiers of the "Zionist state", America, and NATO. The group advocates violent opposition against the Syrian transitional government, and regularly espouses sectarian narratives through its telegram channel.

The Syrian Popular Resistance, through the help of Hezbollah, heavily solicit funds through various cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The group portrayed its threats to attack HTS and HTS-affiliated leaders as part of its response against the extrajudicial killings of Christians, Shias, and Alawites after the fall of the Assad regime. The group also denounced the Syrian transitional government as heretical, by labelling the HTS-led coalition as "Kharijite" (extremists). ISW predicted that growing conflict between armed minority groups of this kind and HTS would increase sectarian tensions in Syria because the HTS would struggle to contain some of the more Salafi Jihadist and sectarian groups within its coalition. Iran may have attempted to exploit this sectarian violence aiming to destabilize the Syrian caretaker government. Two days after the formation of the group, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released a statement advocating counter-revolutionary action in Syria.

Iran has been engaged in efforts to foment sectarian conflict in Syria, as part of its attempts to reestablish its proxy network in Syria and destabilize the region. SPR became a target from both Turkey and Turkish-backed militias, as well as the SDF. SPR utilizes sleeper cells across Syria in order to perpetrate its attacks.

On 4 February 2025, the Syrian Popular Resistance issued a statement calling it the "Final Statement" which urges for operations from all sects of Islam in Syria to fight against the new Syrian government if "they oppose Zionism, America, and Wahhabism".

In the aftermath of the Western Syria clashes, the Syrian Popular Resistance issued a statement on 19 August 2025, announcing plans to reform its structure. According to the group’s official telegram page, it intended to "form specialized units, organizing twenty-five groups carefully distributed across the west, east, north and south of the country". The group said these reforms were in order to "enter 2026 with a wider and more widespread structure".

On 6 January, the Syrian Popular Resistance ambushed HTS units in Latakia.