Descendants of Saladin Brigade

Descendants of Saladin Brigade
لواء أحفاد صلاح الدين
Liwa Ahfad Saladin
Leaders
  • Mahmoud Khallo (nom de guerre "Abu Hamza")[1] (until July 2017)
  • Masoud Ibo ("Abu al-Majd Komale") (spokesman)[2]
  • Mohammed Hawash[3] (until March 2016;[4] since July 2017)
Dates of operation2015–July 2017 (main group)[5]
July 2017–present (pro-Turkey faction)[6]
HeadquartersAzaz and Mare'
Active regionsAleppo Governorate
IdeologyDemocracy[7]
Kurdish nationalism (faction)[8]
Size600 (2016)
Part ofSyrian opposition Free Syrian Army
  • 99th Division (2016)
Hawar Kilis Operations Room
Allies
Opponents
Battles and warsSyrian Civil War

The Descendants of Saladin Brigade (Arabic: لواء أحفاد صلاح الدين; Liwa Ahfad Saladin) was a Free Syrian Army group active in the northern Aleppo Governorate. The group was supported by Turkey and was initially funded and armed by the United States,[9] mainly fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant but also opposing the Syrian government and the Democratic Union Party's (PYD) affiliates such as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).[1] The brigade was largely disbanded by the Turkish Army in 2017, following disagreements over the participation in a planned Turkish-led offensive against Afrin Canton,[5] although a small faction within the group (known simply as Saladin Brigade) remained active and participated in the offensive since January 2018.[6][3]

  1. ^ a b "Kurd turns on Kurd as Turkey backs new faction in Syria". Middle East Eye. 16 March 2016.
  2. ^ "ROUNDTABLE: Is the PYD the legitimate representative of Syrian Kurds?". Syria Direct. 28 January 2016.
  3. ^ a b Khaled al-Khateb (16 February 2018). "Kurdish fighters join Turkey's Afrin operation". al-Monitor. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  4. ^ "Splits within the brigade of descendants of Salahuddin, and its military commander accused of a member of the coalition conspiring". Kobanî Kurd. 12 March 2016. Archived from the original on 16 October 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  5. ^ a b c Lars Hauch (5 July 2017). "Syria war: Turkey 'disbands rebel battalion' as alliances collapse". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  6. ^ a b c Ammar Hammou; Maria Nelson (5 February 2018). "Revolutionaries, pawns, liberators, or mercenaries? Meet the Kurdish fighters participating in Turkey's Afrin offensive". Syria Direct.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference direct was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Ömer Özkizilcik (2 December 2016). "Kurdish FSA commander in Syria: "The USA are responsible for the fail of the revolution"". Eurasia News.
  9. ^ a b c Mohammad Abdulssattar Ibrahim; Maria Nelso (23 August 2017). "'Afrin is a red line': Kurdish FSA commander loses his faction after refusing to fight". Syria:direct. Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference tensions was invoked but never defined (see the help page).