In a late January 2025 interview between Lizzie Porter of Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National and the groups' leader, Salem Turki al-Antri, he states that the amount of land controlled by the SFA has tripled, from 55 sq km to more than 150.

The New Syrian Army was established by remnants of the Allahu Akbar Brigade, part of the Authenticity and Development Front and formerly based in Abu Kamal.

[30] On 5 March 2016, the NSA and another FSA group, the Forces of Martyr Ahmad al-Abdo, captured the al-Tanf border crossing from ISIL in a cross-border raid from Jordan.

The attack brought to the surface underlying tensions and a lack of morale within the group, whose members alleged that the US failed to provide them with the equipment promised.

The Ghosts of the Desert (Arabic: أشباح الصحراء) was an NSA-affiliated anti-ISIL insurgent group that covertly operated in ISIL-held towns in southeastern Syria and southwestern Iraq such as Abu Kamal, Mayadin, and al-Qaim.

[citation needed] Since March 2016, they initially sprayed graffiti and raised Syrian and Iraqi flags in the towns, but began to conduct covert military activities the next month, such as sabotage, assassinations of ISIL fighters, and marking positions for airstrikes.

[5] On 30 April 2017, the RCA launched an offensive into eastern Syria, reaching the Deir ez-Zor Governorate and capturing the village of Humaymah, south of the T2 pumping station.

[42] On 23 September 2022, the US-led coalition dismissed RCA's commander Brigadier General Muhannad Ahmad and replaced him with Captain Muhammad Farid, a former leader of the Qaryatayn Martyrs' Brigade.

[43] On 29 February 2024, the Syrian Free Army announced the appointment of Salem Turki al-Antri as their new leader, replacing Muhammad Farid al-Qasim.