Mountain Hawks Brigade

Mountain Hawks Brigade
Liwa’ Suqour al-Jabal
لواء صقور الجبل
Leaders
Dates of operationSeptember 2012–present
HeadquartersJabal Zawiya, Idlib Governorate, Syria
Active regionsNorthwest Syria
IdeologySyrian nationalism[2]
Size2,500 fighters (own claim, 2016)[3]
Part of
Allies
Opponents
Battles and warsSyrian Civil War

The Mountain Hawks Brigade (Arabic: لواء صقور الجبل, romanized: Liwa’ Suqour al-Jabal), known as the Hawks of Mount Zawiya Brigade (Arabic: لواء صقور جبل الزاويه, romanized: Liwa' Suqour Jabal al-Zawiya) between 2012 and 2015 and the Mountain Hawks Division (Arabic: فرقة صقور الجبل, romanized: Firqat Suqour al-Jabal) since 2020,[6] is a Syrian rebel group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army operating in northwestern Syria, mainly in the Idlib Governorate. The group is supported by Turkey and previously by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Composition

As of May 2020, the Mountain Hawks Division consists of the following groups:[6]

  • 1st Brigade, led by Lieutenant Colonel Nasha'at Haj Ahmad, which left the Mountain Hawks to join Jabhat Fatah al-Sham in September 2016 but returned on 25 January 2017[7]
  • 6th Brigade, led by Major Maher al-Mawas
  • Revolutionary Idlib Brigade, led by Muhammad al-Khalil
  • Revolutionary Mountain Hawks Brigade, led by Haider Hashum
  • Revolutionary Mountain Commandos Brigade, led by Qasim Biyur

Izz al-Din Hammoud serves as the speaker of the group's shura council.[6]

History

In September 2012, Hassan Haj Ali, a defected Syrian Army captain, formed the Hawks of Mount Zawiya Brigade as a subunit of the Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades.[8]

According to a former commander of the group, Turkey was supporting FSA and Islamist groups in order to expel the People's Protection Units (YPG) from the border during the Battle of Ras al-Ayn (2012–13).[9]

In early 2014 the Hawks of Mount Zawiya Brigade joined the Syria Revolutionaries Front but later left the SRF due to internal disputes. It was one of the founding members of the 5th Corps but it also became defunct. Since 2014 the group is supplied with BGM-71 TOW missiles from the CIA through Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, and is one of the original and most prolific users of the missiles in Syria.[10]

At the beginning of the Russian military intervention in Syria in October 2015, the headquarters of the Mountain Hawks Brigade was hit by 20 air-to-surface missiles from the Russian Air Force.[1] 2 months later, The Mountain Hawks Brigade clashed with the newly founded Syrian Democratic Forces in the northern Aleppo Governorate, capturing a village from the Army of Revolutionaries. Mountain Hawks Brigade fighters then took down and burned the flags of the SDF and the Army of Revolutionaries while chanting "Allahu Akbar". The group also participated along with other Fatah Halab factions in the shelling of the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood in Aleppo.[11]

During the Northern Aleppo offensive (February 2016), a unit of the Mountain Hawks Brigade consisting of 50 fighters stationed in the town of Deir Jamal in northern Aleppo defected to the Army of Revolutionaries. The unit's commander was captured by another rebel group soon after his defection.[12]

In September 2016, the Mountain Hawks Brigade, along with the Northern Division and the 13th Division, formed the Free Idlib Army,[13] In response to the establishment of the Free Idlib Army, a group of Mountain Hawks Brigade fighters defected to join Jabhat Fatah al-Sham in early October.[14]

Afif Suleiman, the overall commander of the Free Idlib Army, was accused of holding back the Free Idlib Army during the northwestern Syria offensive (December 2019–March 2020) by not sending reinforcements to the frontlines, instead moving himself and the rest of the Free Idlib Army's leadership north to Jindires in Afrin away from the fighting. In response to these accusations and to Suleiman's replacement of the Free Idlib Army leadership to exclude members of the Mountain Hawks Division, the Mountain Hawks, which were half of the Free Idlib Army,[6] stated on 13 May 2020 that they no longer recognized Suleiman as their commander, and demanded that he be court martialed for treason.[15][16]

On 8 October 2020, a military commander of the Mountain Hawks, Nayrouz al-Hamdo, was killed by Syrian government and Russian aerial and artillery bombardment in the village of Kansafra.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "The U.S.-Backed Groups In Syria That Say They Are Being Bombed By Russia". RFERL. 2 October 2015.
  2. ^ Abdul Rahman al-Masri (3 May 2017). "Analysis: The Free Idlib Army's Role in the U.S. Battle Against Al-Qaida in Syria". Syria Deeply.
  3. ^ "CAPTAIN HASSAN HAJ ALI: SYRIAN COMMANDER OF THE US-VETTED MOUNTAIN HAWKS BRIGADE". Yalla Souriya. 4 May 2016.
  4. ^ "لواء صقور الجبل يستهدف غرفة عمليات حركة النجباء ويدمرها بالكامل بريف حلب الجنوبي" [Suqur al-Jabal Brigade targets the al-Nujaba operation room and completely destroys it in the southern countryside of Aleppo]. shaam.org (in Arabic). December 14, 2015.
  5. ^ "Iran troops to join Syria war, Russia bombs group trained by CIA". Reuters. 7 October 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d "The "Suqur Al-Shamal" group demands that its commander be brought to a military court". Jesr Press. 13 May 2020. Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  7. ^ @putintintin1 (January 25, 2017). "Soqur al-Jabal (First Brigade) returned to Idlib Free Army under Lieutenant Colonel Nasha'at Haj Ahmad" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. ^ "The formation of the Hawks of Mount Zawiya Brigade as part of the Descendants of the Prophet". Mohammed Deyaa. 6 September 2012.
  9. ^ al-Hilu, Khayrallah (14 January 2021). "The Turkish Intervention in Northern Syria: One Strategy, Discrepant Policies". Wartime and Post-Conflict in Syria: 6. doi:10.2870/72894. hdl:1814/69657. ISBN 9789290849827. S2CID 234255214.
  10. ^ "THE MODERATE REBELS: A GROWING LIST OF VETTED GROUPS FIELDING BGM-71 TOW ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILES". Hasan Mustafas. 5 August 2015.
  11. ^ "YPG, allies clash with Syrian opposition groups in Aleppo". Middle East Eye. 29 November 2015.
  12. ^ "The "rebel army" controls two villages in the northern countryside of Aleppo". SMART News Agency. 8 February 2016. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  13. ^ "FSA in Idlib… A new launch towards unified military action". RFS Media Office. 20 September 2016.[permanent dead link‍]
  14. ^ US-backed rebels defect to al-Qaeda branch in Syria Archived 2017-08-24 at the Wayback Machine Al Masdar News, 5 October 2016
  15. ^ "Opposition faction demands the trial of its leader!". Baladi News Network. 13 May 2020.
  16. ^ "Dissidence signs - Quarrels disturb "Free Idlib Army", while commanders demanding the leader get court-martial". Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 13 May 2020.
  17. ^ "Insane bombing on the town of Kansafra, killing a leader of the opposition and wounding others". Step News Agency. 8 October 2020.