A team of Syrian expatriates, led by Ontario resident Louay Sakka, founded the SSG when they came to the conclusion that armed revolution was necessary.

[3] On 23 July 2012, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control granted the organization its license to fund the Free Syrian Army.

[5] The article also claimed that in June 2013 the head of the SSG in Washington resigned after the group failed to gain traction with US Government officials.

[5] In a publicized rebuttal, SSG denied that such a warning had ever occurred, citing its ongoing relationship with the State Department as the "implementing partner" for aid shipments, as well as Ambassador Robert Ford's letter of appreciation.

[6] The Daily Telegraph article reported that the group's former European government affairs director, David Falt, alleged that the SSG spent months trying to negotiate deals to sell rights to Syrian oil output worth hundreds of millions of dollars.