Profile: Furqat al-Mu’tasim (SNA)

Furqat al-Mu’tasim - فرقة المعتصم

‘al-Mu’tasim Division’

Until June 2018: Liwa’ al-Mu’tasim (‘al-Mu’tasim Brigade’), previously Liwa’ al-Mu’tasim Billah

Basic information:

• Founded in August 2015 under the name Liwa’ al-Mu’tasim as a merger of several factions active in Mare’ including Liwa’ al-Mu’tasim Billah, soon joined by Kata’ib al-Da’wah wa’l-Jihad led by current faction leader al-Mu’tasim ‘Abbas

• Was one of two SNA factions (along with Furqat al-Hamzah) supported by the US Department of Defense as part of the Train and Equip program from 2015-2017. This entailed several dozen fighters affiliated with the group receiving training by US Army Special Forces at a base in Turkey over the course of 2015 (up until the training part of the program was cancelled in October) and the faction receiving American small arms and and air support in battles against the Islamic State in 2016 up until Turkey fully took over the group portfolio from the US over the course of Operation Euphrates Shield (2016-17).

• Was a member of the Mare’ Operations Room (Sep 2015 - Jan 2016) and the Hawar Kilis Operations Room (April 2016 - Dec 2017), opposition coordinating coalitions active in northern Aleppo

• A member of the SNA since its founding on December 30 2017, affiliated with the Second Legion

• Took part in Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield (2016), Operation Olive Branch (2018), and Operation Peace Spring (2019)

• Sent fighters to Libya as part of Turkey’s SNA mercenary program

• Recently witnessed a coup attempt in which several prominent commanders tried and failed to overthrow faction leader al-Mu’tasim ‘Abbas over accusations of corruption

• Size estimate: large, several thousand fighters (grown significantly in recent years, as of April 2017 Mu’tasim only fielded 400 fighters)

• Primarily based around the town of Mare’ in Euphrates Shield region, also present in Afrin and Peace Spring (Serê Kaniyê/Ras al-’Ain) regions

Leadership:

al-Mu’tasim ‘Abbas aka Abu al-‘Abbas (‘المعتصم عباس ‘أبو العباس)

• born in Mare’ in 1984

• Commander of local Mare’ faction Kata’ib al-Da’wah wa’l-Jihad since its founding in 2012, primarily active in battles against the regime in Aleppo city

  • ‘Abbas announcing the faction’s joining Liwa’ Halab al-Shahba’ in Oct 2012

• Worked as a field commander for various coalitions that Kata’ib al-Da’wah wa’l-Jihad joined between 2012-2015, most notably Liwa’ al-Tawhid

  • Kata’ib al-Da’wah wa’l-Jihad announcing their joining of Liwa’ al-Tawhid in 2013

  • ‘Abbas interviewed by Turkmen News Agency at Bab al-Salamah in Oct 2013:

• Known for leading opposition forces in breaking the brief besiegement of Mare’ imposed by the Islamic State in late May 2016. See this interview he gave to Syria Direct at the time

• Led the brief intra-SNA alliance al-Jabhah al-Suriyah lil-Tahrir in 2021

• ‘Abbas is a now Turkish citizen and posted a photo of himself voting for Turkish President Erdoğan in the May 2023 election to Twitter

• Survived an internal coup attempt launched by several Mu’tasim subcommanders in April 2024

  

  center: al-Mu’tasim ‘Abbas (source)

‘Abbas (blue plaid) as a Liwa’ al-Tawhid commander in June 2013 (source)

‘Abbas as a Fastaqim Kama Umirt commander in Feb 2013 (source)

Mustafa Sejri (مصطفى سيجري)

• Born in Aleppo in 1984, moved to Latakia as a teenager.

• Was involved in Salafi-influenced opposition activity prior to the outbreak of the civil war, serving a prison sentence for anti-government activity from 2006-08

• Helped form rural Latakia-based opposition faction Liwa’ Suqour al-Sahil in 2012 before moving north to the Jabal al-Akrad and Jabal al-Turkman areas where he came to lead Kata’ib Izz bin ‘Abd al-Salam, a prominent FSA-aligned group

• Was exiled to Turkey after Kata’ib Izz bin ‘Abd al-Salam joined the Syrian Revolutionaries’ Front and became party to the coalition’s clashes with Jabhat al-Nusra in 2014

• Was recruited into the US-backed Liwa’ al-Mu’tasim project in the northern Aleppo countryside, in which he has acted as a political representative of the faction until this day, commonly appearing as a spokesman for the SNA more broadly on opposition and Arab media

• Involved in the April 2024 coup attempt against faction leader al-Mu’tasim ‘Abbas, currently being held on related charges by the SNA Military Police

  

  (source)

‘Alaa’ al-Din Ayyoub (علاء الدين أيوب) aka al-Farouq Abu Bakr (الفاروق أبو بكر)

• was born in the al-Sukari neighborhood of Aleppo in 1984

• went on to found several Islamist factions active within opposition-controlled parts of the city, including Harakat al-Fajr al-Islamiyah which eventually joined Ahrar al-Sham

• became a leading local figure within the Aleppo city opposition, negotiating the December 2016 ceasefire and evacuation deal with Russia that saw the entire city come under regime control

• After run-ins with HTS in Idlib and Western Aleppo, Ayyoub left for SNA territory where he took part in Operation Olive Branch in early 2018. In June of the same year he left Ahrar al-Sham for Furqat al-Mu’tasim

• Involved in the April 2024 coup attempt against faction leader al-Mu’tasim ‘Abbas, currently being held on related charges by the SNA Military Police

  

  (source)

Muhammed al-Dhahir aka Abu Iskandar (‘محمد الضاهر ‘أبو إسكندر)

• A commander within the ill-fated US Department of Defense trained group Division 30, dismantled by Jabhat al-Nusra soon after entering Syria. Abu Iskandar was one of the initial 54-strong contingent of Division to be deployed to Syria on July 12th 2015. By a mid-August visit by al-Aan correspondent Jenan Mousa he was hiding out in an unnamed location in northern Aleppo with several other Division 30 members. According to an interview with him conducted by CNN in August 2015 Abu Iskandar was able to relay target coordinates for US airstrikes.

  

  Abu Iskandar being interviewed by al-Aan TV’s Jenan Mousa in northern Aleppo as part of Division 30, Aug 2015 (source)

• Was present for the formation announcement of the ‘Syrian Democratic Forces in Aleppo and Idlib’ on November 16th 2015, representing the remnants of Division 30 that fled west to YPG-controlled Afrin

  

  Abu Iskandar at the announcement of the Aleppo/Idlib contingent of the SDF, Nov 2015 (source)

• Defected from the SDF to the opposition at some point after, eventually working as a ‘security official’ within Furqat al-Mu’tasim

• Involved in the April 2024 coup attempt against faction leader al-Mu’tasim ‘Abbas, currently being held on related charges by the SNA Military Police

  

  Abu Iskandar on the far left, with al-Farouq Abu Bakr, al-Mu’tasim ‘Abbas and members of the SIG Ministry of Defense including then Minister of Defense Salim Idris (3rd from left), 2019 (source)

Ahmad ‘Abbas aka Abu Hazim (‘أحمد عباس ‘أبو حازم)

• Brother of al-Mu’tasim ‘Abbas

• Killed during the 2024 coup attempt

(source)

Col. Bassam al-Sanbaki aka Abu Muhammed al-Kurdi (العقيد بسام محمد السنبكي)

• Information based on this Twitter thread by @sol_0_4

• SAA defector from historically (Arabized-) Kurdish neighborhood Rukn al-Din in western Damascus where he was involved in the armed opposition beginning in 2012

• Later ended up in Eastern Ghoutah where he fought within the ranks of both Faylaq al-Rahman and Jaysh al-Islam, the two primary factions within the opposition-controlled pocket

• Left for northern Aleppo in April 2018 as part of the Ghoutah evacuation/reconciliation agreement, where he eventually joined Furqat al-Mu’tasim

  

  L to R: al-Farouq Abu Bakr, current SIG Minister of Defense Hassan Hamadah, al-Mu’tasim ‘Abbas, and Bassam al-Sanbaki (source)