The SNA's 'Border Guard Brigades'
Information gleaned from a recent SIG Ministry of Defense video
On November 25th the Syrian Interim Government’s Ministry of Defense published a short video highlighting Alwiyat Haras al-Hudoud, or the “Border Guard Brigades,” an entity existing under the auspices of the Syrian National Army but intended to remain independent of any one faction. The video includes some basic information on the outfit while additionally providing some clues as to its organization and deployment, all of which I’ve outlined below.
Alwiyat Haras al-Hudoud was founded in the beginning of 2022 and allegedly fields 3,000 fighters (such figures are typically unverifiable and borderline useless) across the Olive Branch (Afrin), Euphrates Shield, and Peace Spring areas.
It was formed with the primary goal of combating human trafficking, as well as “protecting areas under the control of the [SIG]” from drug smuggling and terrorism stemming from “areas controlled by the Asad regime and the YPG/PKK terrorist organization.”
Its fighters are deployed along the “border of the SIG areas,” 350km in length. The video does not make this clear but this refers to the Syrian-Turkish border (Afrin ±115km, Euphrates Shield ±100km, Peace Spring ±145km), not the internal borders with SDF and regime-controlled parts of Syria
The border guards patrol 15km long stretches of the border multiple times a day and use security cameras to look for any suspicious activity.
Alwiyat Haras al-Hudoud is led by commander Abu Muhammed Sheikhli, a member of SNA faction Furqat al-Sultan Murad, former head of the SNA Military Police, and former deputy director of the Hay’at Tha’iroun Security Department. According to an SIG MoD document from August 2023 a Mustafa Ahmad Ma’rati was appointed as the deputy commander.
“Abu Muhammed Sheikhli Sheikhli: commander of the Border Guards” Alwiyat Haras al-Hudoud appears to be subdivided along geographical lines. In the video we seen a fighter wearing a patch reading Liwa’ Ghusn al-Zaytoun al-Thani, or the “Second Olive Branch Brigade,” stationed in what appears to be the northern Afrin subdistrict of Bulbul.
Later we see a patch that appears to read Liwa’ A’zaz, meaning A’zaz Brigade.
One shot shows a member of the Border Guard scrolling through a map of northwestern Aleppo on an Ipad. The borders visible are color coded with western Afrin in red, northern Afrin in purple, and A’zaz in blue, likely representing the local distribution of Border Guard brigades (two in Afrin, one for A’zaz).
The same clip also shows notes made on a map underneath the iPad. The only semi-legible one appears to read “مقترح مقر ——- لواء جرابلس” or “proposed headquarters ——- Liwa’ Jarabulus” in the village of Turaykhim in eastern Aleppo. Reporting from May 2023 on a drug bust also indicate the existence of a Jarabulus brigade of the Border Guards. My assumption is that each of the three SNA regions has two Border Guard brigades: First Olive Branch Brigade, Second Olive Branch Brigade, A’zaz Brigade, Jarabulus Brigade, Tell Abyad Brigade, Ras al-’Ain Brigade, though perhaps al-Ra’i (Euphrates Shield) and Suluk or al-Mabroukah (Peace Spring) were assigned brigades as well.
The other commander featured in the video is “commander of the Second Brigade” Ahmad al-Mashhadani. Previous reporting identifies al-Mashhadani as a Furqat al-Sultan Murad security officer based in the Bulbul subdistrict of northern Afrin, giving credence to the structure above (First Olive Branch Brigade = western Afrin, Second Olive Branch Brigade = northern Afrin)
“Ahmad al-Mashhadani: commander of the Second Brigade in the Border Guards”
Seen altogether it appears that Alwiyat Haras al-Hudoud was created in a manner similar to that of the SNA Military Police: pulling commanders and fighters from SNA factions and assigning them to specific regions. Given the seeming use of Furqat al-Sultan Murad members in the Bulbul region within the Second Olive Branch Brigade, it’s likely that the most prominent faction in a given area was awarded key roles within the local brigade. As has been the case with the Military Police this is likely to prevent institutionalization as factions will use their power within this entity instrumentally and key figures within in it will maintain factional allegiances.
Given where this entity is deployed and its self-reported focus on ‘human trafficking,’ followed by ‘drug smuggling,’ and ‘terrorism,’ my assumption is that Alwiyat Haras al-Hudoud was created by Turkey with the intended purpose of policing its own borders from the outside, largely to prevent more Syrians from attempting to cross into Turkey to claim asylum. This would hypothetically lead to a decrease in cases of Turkish gendarme and soldiers killing Syrians while trying to cross the border, putting the onus on Turkey’s Syrian partners instead.