SNA faction division assignments
So far the Ministry of Defense has not announced any of the assignments relating to the formal integration of former opposition factions into the new army’s order of battle. Local outlets and social media have reported a bit on the structure, with some of these later being confirmed indirectly in Ministry of Defense and provincial government media. Below is the information I’ve collected regarding where various SNA factions have ended up. It may not be 100% accurate at the moment - I will update and re-publish the chart as things become clearer.
I’ve seen Jaysh al-Nukhbah Northern Sector mentioned once as belonging to Division 66 and Maghawir al-Sham belonging to either Division 54 or 72, but these assignments are less clear.
Factions I have not yet seen reported assignments for:
al-Liwa’ 112
al-Liwa’ 113
Liwa’ al-Shamal
Furqat Suqour al-Shamal (was disbanded last year but reportedly reinstated),
Faylaq al-Sham Northern Sector (possibly with the bulk of Faylaq al-Sham in Division 64)
al-Furqah al-Tasi‘ah
Liwa’ al-Samarqand
For more on the SNA landscape prior to the fall of the former regime see my December 2024 overview:
SNA commander appointments
Several of the main personalities formerly heading SNA factions have been appointed roles in the new government. Apart from ‘Azzam Gharib of al-Jabhah al-Shamiyah, now the governor of Aleppo, all appointments have been within the new military - either within the bureaucracy or as division commanders. Overall the Ministry of Defense hierarchy, headed by Murhaf Abu Qasrah, remains HTS-dominated with SNA figures playing somewhat marginal bureaucratic or local field commander roles. As was the case above, many of these have just been reported in the media without full confirmation from the state so the information below is possibly not completely accurate.
‘Azzam Gharib (al-Jabhah al-Shamiyah): Governor of Aleppo
Fehim ‘Isa (Furqat al-Sultan Murad): Deputy Minister of Defense for the Northern Region
Mu‘tazz Raslan (Jaysh al-Nukhbah Northern Sector): Deputy Director of the Air Training Department
Muhammad Deiri (al-Furqah 51): General Authority for Control and Inspection at the Ministry of Defense
Division appointments
Ra’id ‘Arab (Suqour al-Sham Northern Sector): Division 42
Muhammad Jasim (Furqat al-Sultan Suleiman Shah): Division 62
‘Ali ‘Abd al-Baqi (Jaysh al-Islam): Division 70
Saif Polat (Furqat al-Hamzah): Division 76
Ahmad Rizq (Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki): Division 80
Ahmad Hayyes (Furqat Ahrar al-Sharqiyah): Division 86
Doğan Süleyman (Liwa’ al-Sultan Mehmet al-Fatih): brigade commander, Division 72
al-Mu‘tasim ‘Abbas (Furqat al-Mu’tasim): brigade commander, Division 80
Northwestern-most bridge in Syria
The Haradara (هرة درة) or Heshargeh (Heşargê/حشركه) valley rail bridge, located near the Turkish border in northern Afrin. It was built by 1913 as part of the Berlin-Baghdad railway connecting the border town of Meydan Ikbis to Aleppo city by way of Afrin. See more here, here.
Northeastern-most bridge in Syria
The ‘Ain Diwar or Zengid or Roman bridge, located on the right bank of the Tigris across the border from the city of Cizre in Turkey. Locally it’s referred to as the Roman bridge but a 2014 appraisal found it to be built in 1146 to 1163 AD by the Zengids, a Turkmen dynasty that ruled upper Mesopotamia and parts of the Levant during the 12th century.
