TheSuqour al-Sham Brigades (Arabic:أَلْوِيَةُ صُقُورِ الشَّامِ,romanized: ʾAlwiyat Ṣuqūr aš-Šām,lit. 'Falcons of the Levant Brigades'), also known as theFalcons of the Levant Brigades, was an armed rebel organisation formed by Ahmed Abu Issa[1] early in theSyrian Civil War to fight against theSyrian Government.[1] It was a member of theIslamic Front[17] and a former unit of theFree Syrian Army[25] and theSyrian Islamic Liberation Front.[26] They have a history of coordinating withAhrar al-Sham andal-Qaeda'sal-Nusra Front[12] (a group rebranded asTahrir al-Sham since January 2017), thoughclashes with the latter broke out in January 2017. In March 2015, the Suqour al-Sham Brigades merged withAhrar ash-Sham,[27][3] but left Ahrar al-Sham in September 2016.[4] Also, in September 2016, they joined theArmy of Conquest, of whichAhrar al-Sham was also a member.[28] On 25 January 2017, Suqour al-Sham rejoined Ahrar al-Sham,[9] but later became independent.[5]
At theSyrian Revolution Victory Conference, which was held on 29 January 2025, most factions of the armed opposition, including the Suqour al-Sham Brigades, announced their dissolution and were incorporated into the newly formedMinistry of Defense.[29]
Suqour al-Sham's ideology has been described by Asher Berman of theInstitute for the Study of War as Islamist but not having a globaljihadist outlook. In a sermon delivered in a mosque in April 2012, Abu Issa said Muslims had lost their honor because they had abandonedjihad, replacing aspirations for martyrdom with a fear of death. However, in an interview in June 2012 Issa described his vision for a post-Assad Syria as a moderate Islamic state "without imposing it on society."[30]
A publication of theCounter Terrorism Centre in August 2013 described Suqour al-Sham as belonging to the most stridently Islamist wing of theFree Syrian Army and theSyrian Islamic Liberation Front.[31] After ending relations with those two organisations it joined theIslamic Front in November 2013, a charter released by the new group described their shared beliefs as rejectingrepresentative democracy andsecularism, instead seeking to establish anIslamic State ruled by aMajlis-ash-Shura and implementingSharia law.[32]
As Suquor al-Sham grew in prominence, rebel units in neighboring regions such asAleppo and Idlib Governorate declared themselves to be members of Suqour al-Sham. The central leadership sometimes recognized their affiliation, but the amount of coordination with these groups was believed to be low. By June 2013 the group had recognised some 17 sub-brigades.[31]
Suqour al-Sham has been known to carry out roadsideIED attacks targeting theSyrian Army since its inception. The organization has also carried out attacks on security checkpoints usingVBIEDs that had been secretly rigged with explosives and driven unwittingly by released captives, upon reaching the target they were detonated remotely.[33] The group had not been known to carry outsuicide bombings as of mid-July 2012.[30]
Afterthree months of protests in 2011, the Syrian government released many high-profileSalafist Islamist prisoners fromSednaya Prison such asZahran Alloush,Hassan Aboud and Ahmed Abu Issa. The Suqour al-Sham Battalion was formed in September 2011 under the leadership of Ahmed Abu Issa in the town of Sarjeh in the Jabal al-Zawiya region ofIdlib Governorate. The group's fighters were a mix of military defectors and civilian volunteers. According to its website, the brigade has a civilian and a military wing. The civilian wing was run by ashura council headed by Ahmed Abu Issa, this wing was responsible for acquiring military supplies, food, and media operations. The military wing was independent, but acts on the advice of the civilian leadership.[34]
Suquor al-Sham initially identified itself as part of theFree Syrian Army and recognized theSyrian National Council as the "chief representative of the revolution abroad;" however, the group does not view the SNC as an organization that can legitimately issue orders.[30] In September 2013, Suqour al-Sham was one of anumber of rebel groups that issued a communique stating that the SNC was not representative of them and that they were abandoning it.[35][36] This was followed in December 2013 by a statement from Suqour al-Sham's leader, announcing that they were no longer part of the Free Syrian Army.[25]
In September 2012, a large number ofIslamist rebel brigades, including theFarouq Brigades and the Suquor al-Sham formed theSyrian Islamic Liberation Front, under the leadership of Suquor al-Sham commander Ahmed Abu Issa. Abu Issa claimed the new Front had more than 40,000 fighters and aimed to establish a state with anIslamic reference.[26] This alliance was superseded in November 2013 by a new alliance called theIslamic Front, again led by Abu Issa.[17]
By early 2014, Suqour al-Sham had reportedly been substantially weakened following theoutbreak of open warfare between many Syrian rebel factions and theIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant. On 21 January 2014, Suqour al-Sham's top religious official, Abu Abderrahman al-Sarmini, defected from the group, in protest of the internecine warfare. In February 2014, the group's top military commander, Mohammed al-Dik (alias Abu Hussein), was killed in an ISIL attack. In the same month, Suqour al-Sham's chief of staff and one of its most powerful founding factions, the Suyouf al-Haq Brigade, announced an unapproved separate peace with ISIL and defected from the group. Suyouf al-Haq joined withLiwa Dawud, a powerful Suqour al-Sham faction that had defected in 2013,[37] to form a new group calledJaysh al-Sham, or the Army of the Levant.[38][39]
In May 2014, the group conducted joint suicide attacks with the al-Nusra Front that involved American foreign fighter,Moner Mohammad Abu Salha who took part in one of the series of suicide bombings himself against Syrian government forces inAriha.[40]
In September 2016, after more than a year of being absorbed byAhrar al-Sham, the Suqour al-Sham Brigades left Ahrar al-Sham while continuing to use the Islamic Front logo.[4] Also, in September 2016, they joined theArmy of Conquest, of whichAhrar al-Sham was also a member.[28] On 25 January 2017, Suqour al-Sham rejoined Ahrar al-Sham amidclashes with theal-Nusra Front.[9] By 2018 the group left Ahrar al-Sham again. On 1 August 2018, it joined theNational Front for Liberation, with Suqour al-Sham commander Ahmad Sarhan ("Abu Satif") named as the NFL's first deputy commander.[2]
On 6 August 2019,al-Masdar which has been described as a pro-Syrian government news site, claimed that the Russian military carried out an ambush resulting in the death of 14 fighters from the group in the northern part of theHama Governorate during a Syrian governmentoffensive in the area.[41]
According to a Syrian opposition source and an activist in Afrin, the Suqour al-Sham Brigades were among the Turkish-backed insurgent groups which volunteered to send fighters to Libya as part of a Turkish-led operation to aid the Tripoli-basedGovernment of National Accord in December 2019.[42]
TheUN Commission of Inquiry for Syria reported that the group unlawfully detained Hekmat Khalil al-De’ar for alleged dealings with theSyrian Democratic Forces. His dead body returned to his family the next day. The autopsy showed that he had been subjected to torture.[21]
