Formed by "notables, retired officers and other locals"[1] on 9 January 2014, this unit was designated as auxiliaries to the Republican Guard and was supposed to secure areas retaken from rebel groups.

During these operations, the group began to closely cooperate with the 3rd Armoured Division, leading to the Qalamoun Shield Forces' loyalties shifting away from the Republican Guard.

[1] Around this time, Syrian Army lieutenant colonel Firas Jaz'ah became the "general supervisor" of the militia, though Adel Ibrahim Dellah continued to serve as military commander of QSF.

This group significantly expanded its recruitment efforts in the wider Qalamoun area, and also began to enlist hundreds of former Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels into its ranks as part of reconciliation agreements.

[4] Meanwhile, QSF continued to be active in its core regions in southwestern Syria, where it aided the government conquest of the Barada river valley in early 2017,[13][1] and closely cooperated with Hezbollah to destroy the last holdouts of Tahrir al-Sham, the Syrian opposition, and ISIL at the Lebanon–Syria border.

[17] In course of this battle, one Qalamoun Shield contingent which consisted of ex-rebels reportedly defected back to local insurgents, resulting in a temporary crisis for the government troops.

[19] From 2018, the Syrian government increasingly attempted to demobilize loyalist militias, fully integrate them into the regular armed forces, or reduce their quasi-autonomous powers in other ways.

In August 2018, the Political Security Directorate reportedly removed the militia's armed presence from al-Tall, suspended its local commander Nasir Shamu, and sent its fighters to Deir ez-Zor, where they would fight ISIL.

[25] The Qalamoun Shield Forces were led by Firas Jaz'ah, a lieutenant colonel who is closely affiliated with the 3rd Division,[1] and were organized into several sub-units according to their places of origin.