[Meta] Does the acronym bot need an update after recent events?
Hey. I haven't been around Reddit much in the last little while, but I still get messages from replies to the acronym bot, and there may be scope for changes to the acronym definitions (most obviously, those which are tagged [Government] where the governing regime has fallen).
The current definitions in Decronym's database are below; I'd welcome any additions or changes to the table, in the interest of keeping things accurate going forward. It would also be good to get your opinions on what the [Government] tag should change to, and whether [Opposition] is still valid. Many thanks!
| acronym_key | acronym_value |
|---|---|
| AANES | Autonomous Administration of North & East Syria |
| AaS/AS | [Opposition] Ahrar al-Sham |
| APS | Active Protection System, tank armor |
| AQ | Al-Qaeda |
| ATGM | Anti-Tank Guided Missile |
| CJTF/CJTF-OIR/OIR | [External] Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve, anti-ISIL coalition |
| CW | Chemical weapons, and use thereof |
| DeZ | Deir ez-Zor, northeast Syria; besieged 2014 - Sep 2017 |
| DFNS | Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, see Rojava |
| DN | [Assyrian] Dwekh Nawsha, Assyrian militia |
| EFP | Explosively Formed Penetrator |
| ERA | Explosive Reactive Armor for tanks |
| ES | [External] Euphrates Shield, Turkish military intervention |
| FLEA | Four Letter Extended Acronym (see ETLA) |
| FSA | [Opposition] Free Syrian Army |
| GPF/Sootoro | [Assyrian] Gozarto Protection Force and Sootoro, Assyrian militia |
| HE | High Explosive |
| HIT | Huge If True |
| HTS | [Opposition] Haya't Tahrir ash-Sham, based in Idlib |
| HVT | High-Value Target |
| IDF | [External] Israeli Defense Forces |
| IDP | Internally Displaced Person(s) |
| IED | Improvised Explosive Device |
| IRGC | [Govt allies] Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps |
| ISF | [Iraq] Iraqi Security Forces (law enforcement and/or military) |
| ISIL/IS/ISIS/Daesh | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Daesh |
| ISOF | [Iraq] Iraqi Special Operations Forces |
| JF/JaF | [Opposition] Jaish al-Fatah, Army of Conquest (joint command center for Islamist rebels) |
| JFS | [Opposition] Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, rebranded JN |
| JN/NF/JaN | [Opposition] Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Nusra Front |
| JTAC | [External] US Joint Terminal Attack Coordinator |
| JTS | [Opposition] Jabhat Tahrir Souriyah, alliance of AaS, Zenki, others |
| KDP | [Iraqi Kurd] Kurdistan Democratic Party |
| KIA | Killed in Action |
| KRG | [Iraqi Kurd] Kurdistan Regional Government |
| KSA | [External] Kingdom of Saudi Arabia |
| MANPADS | Man-Portable Air Defense System (SLSAM), anti-aircraft missile (particularly anti-helicopter) |
| MB | Muslim Brotherhood |
| MbS/MBS | Muhammad bin Salman, crown prince, Saudi Arabia |
| MIA | Missing in Action |
| MIT/MİT | [External] Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı, Turkish National Intelligence |
| MLRS | Multiple Launch Rocket System |
| MMC | [Kurdish] Manbij Military Council |
| MSM | Mainstream Media |
| NDF/SDF | [Govt allies] National Defense Forces, pro-govt militia |
| NFZ | No Fly Zone |
| NPF | [Assyrian] Nineveh Plain Forces, Assyrian militia |
| NPU | [Assyrian] Nineveh Plain Protection Units, allied with PMF |
| NSyA | [Opposition] New Syrian Army, part of the FSA |
| NYT | New York Times |
| PGM | Precision-Guided Munition |
| PKK | [External] Kurdistan Workers' Party, pro-Kurdish party in Turkey |
| PMC | Private Military Company/Contractor |
| PMF | [Iraq] Popular Mobilization Forces, state-sponsored militia grouping |
| PMU | [Iraq] Popular Mobilization Units (state-sponsored militias against ISIL) |
| PoW/POW | Prisoner of War |
| PUK | [Iraqi Kurd] Patriotic Union of Kurdistan |
| PYD | [Kurdish] Partiya Yekitiya Demokrat, Democratic Union Party |
| QSD | [Pro-Kurdish Federalists] Quwwat Suriya al-Dimuqratiya; see SDF |
| Rojava/FNS | Federation of Northern Syria, de-facto autonomous region of Syria (Syrian Kurdistan) |
| RT | Russia Today, Russian state TV network |
| RuAF | [Govt allies] Russian Air Force |
| SAA | [Government] Syrian Arab Army |
| SAA/SDF/SAADF | [Govt allies] SAA and SDF coalition |
| SyAAF/SAAF/SAF | [Government] Syrian Arab Air Force |
| SAT | [Opposition] Su Altı Taarruz, Turkish naval special forces |
| SCW | Syrian Civil War |
| SCWM | Syrian Civil War Map |
| SDF | [Pro-Kurdish Federalists] Syrian Democratic Forces |
| SLSAM | Shoulder-Launched Surface-to-Air Missile |
| SNR | [Govt allies] Syrian National Resistance, see SAA/SDF |
| SOF | [External] Special Operations Forces |
| SOHR | Syrian Observatory for Human Rights |
| SRG/RG | [Government] Syrian Republican Guard, protecting Damascus |
| SRO | Syrian Rebellion Observatory, anti-government Twitter account |
| SVBIED | Suicide Vehicle-Borne IED |
| TAF | [Opposition] Turkish Armed Forces |
| TAK | [External] Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, nationalist group in Turkey; possible breakaway of PKK |
| TF | [Government] Tiger Forces, special forces unit of the SAA |
| TFSA | [Opposition] Turkish-backed Syrian rebel group |
| TOW | BGM-71 Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided anti-tank missile, from USA |
| TSK | [Opposition] Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, armed forces of Turkey (see TAF) |
| USAF | United States Air Force |
| WaPo | Washington Post |
| WIA | Wounded in Action |
| YPG | [Kurdish] Yekineyen Parastina Gel, People's Protection Units |
| YPJ | [Kurdish] Yekineyen Parastina Jin, Women's Protection Units |