Individuals listed on international sanctions attack besieged neighborhoods in Aleppo

The mercenaries of the Syrian interim government, who receive direct support from the occupying Turkish state, continue to shell the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafieh, and Bani Zaid in the city of Aleppo, after their attempts to enter these areas failed and were confronted by Internal Security Forces there. The ongoing shelling has so far resulted in the martyrdom of seven civilians and the injury of 49 others, whose names have been documented by ANHA agency.

Who are the parties nominally affiliated with the interim government forces, listed on international sanctions lists, that have been carrying out the shelling of these neighborhoods since noon yesterday, Tuesday, according to ANHA agency’s monitoring, and where did they come from under their various names?

Mercenaries of the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement:

The so-called Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement was established on 1 November 2011. It is a mercenary faction affiliated with the Turkish occupation army and participated in attacks on the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood from 2012 until 2016, committing numerous crimes against civilians.

Many of the leaders of this mercenary faction claim that its ideological orientation is based on “moderate Islam.” However, its practices and actions, rooted in Salafi sectarian and ethnic tendencies, include among their most notorious crimes the beheading of a Palestinian child on 19 July 2016 in the al-Shaar neighborhood of Aleppo.

Following that incident, the United States terminated the “Timber Sycamore” program, which had supported and financed Turkey-affiliated mercenary factions through the Ministry of Transportation, according to numerous press reports, due to their commission of war crimes against Syrians.

The Zenki mercenaries were also classified among terrorist groups during the Vienna peace talks in 2015, when Jordan was tasked with drafting a list to classify terrorist organizations.

According to Amnesty International, the Nour al-Din al-Zenki mercenaries, alongside the mercenaries of Division 16, Al-Shamia Front, and Ahrar al-Sham, were involved in kidnapping and torturing journalists and humanitarian aid workers in areas they controlled in Aleppo during 2014 and 2015. They were also accused of throwing opponents from rooftops as a means of revenge and spreading terror among the population.

In 2019, the Nour al-Din al-Zenki mercenaries announced their “dissolution” after fierce clashes with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, later joining the Majd Corps under a new name, the “Third Brigade.”

Mercenaries of the Majd Corps:

This mercenary faction was established by Turkish intelligence in 2017. Its first participation in an attack was in 2018, alongside the Turkish occupation army, during the occupation of Afrin. Most of its operations targeted areas of the North and East Syria region, with no significant record of participation in battles against the collapsed Baath regime.

The faction is led by the mercenary Yasser Abdul Rahim, who has a long history of violations against the Syrian people, particularly Kurds, which earned him praise from Turkish President Erdogan.

Abdul Rahim hails from the village of Termanin in Idlib countryside. Video recordings show him, during his time as a commander in the Sham Corps, shelling civilians in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in 2015–2016, before leading the Majd Corps. This shelling resulted in the martyrdom of more than 350 civilians over two years. He is also one of the main figures accused of using chemical weapons on three consecutive occasions during the shelling of Sheikh Maqsoud in 2016.

He also appeared smiling in a photograph carrying the Turkish flag on his shoulder after his faction captured YPJ fighter Jijek Kobani in 2019, threatening her with beheading. Jijek had participated in the Resistance of Dignity and was captured after being wounded in the village of al-Mashrafa.

In addition to abusing prisoners of war, Abdul Rahim’s name has been linked to other crimes, including the beheading of a Palestinian child in Aleppo and the mutilation of the bodies of martyrs from the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Majd Corps mercenary positions are primarily concentrated in the occupied city of Tal Abyad/Girê Spî, and they are among the mercenaries sent by Turkey to Libya and Niger.

Mercenaries of the Sham Corps:

This is Erdogan’s favored mercenary faction, to the extent that he dubbed it “the proxy,” due to its participation in all military operations launched by the Turkish occupation army since 2016, which paved the way for Turkey’s occupation of parts of Syrian territory.

In addition to its participation in fighting in Libya, with thousands of mercenaries deployed alongside the Government of National Accord supported by the Turkish occupation army, Erdogan also relied on them in the fighting in Karabakh alongside Azerbaijan against Armenia.

The faction has also been implicated in the detention and torture of Syrians opposing the presence of the Turkish occupation army on Syrian territory, particularly in the occupied city of Afrin.

This mercenary faction was established in March 2014 and formed part of the so-called “Army of Conquest (Al-Fatieh)” alliance with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, taking control of all of Idlib province in the summer of 2015. Later, the Sham Corps engaged in fighting against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham over control areas in Idlib province and neighboring regions.

Mercenaries of the Al-Shamia Front:

Established in 2014 in the city of Aleppo, the Front participated in attacks on the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods and in the occupation of Afrin and the Shahba areas, causing the martyrdom and injury of thousands of civilians in those regions.

The current leader of this Front mercenaries, Azzam Gharib (Abu al-Ezz Saraqib), holds responsibility for supervising affairs in Aleppo governorate and is accused by local sources of embezzling funds belonging to the faction.

In 2021, the Levant Front joined the so-called Third Corps of the “National Army,” incorporating five mercenary factions, most notably the Islamic Front, which aims to establish a “righteous Islamic state,” according to its founding statement in 2013.

The Levant Front also includes, alongside the Islamic Front, mercenary factions that collapsed and dissolved themselves, such as the Army of the Mujahideen, parts of the Nour al-Din al-Zenki mercenaries who refused to join the Majd Corps, and remnants of smaller groups like the “Fastaqim Kama Umirt” gathering, whose influence declined due to internal conflicts based on personal interests and the distribution of loot.

Mercenaries of al-Amshat and al-Hamzat “Joint Force”:

The mercenary faction known as “al-Amshat” changed its name several times since its establishment in 2011, depending on its sources of funding, from “Fire Line Group” to adopting the name “Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade” in 2016 after being linked to Turkish intelligence. It became one of the most loyal factions to the Turkish occupation, redirecting its objectives from fighting the Syrian regime to attacking areas of North and East Syria.

Some reports confirm that Turkish intelligence elements were besieged in the headquarters of the Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade in the al-Haidariyah neighborhood of Aleppo in autumn 2016, during the Baath regime’s siege of eastern Aleppo.

Despite portraying itself as a “Turkmen faction,” given that its leader and many members are of Turkmen background, the reality is that they are recently “Turkified.” The mercenary leader “Abu Amsha” is from Arab Bedouin tribes, not Turkmen. He hails from the village of Jousa in the Hiyalin area of northern Hama countryside, born in 1987, and previously worked as a driver of agricultural machinery before becoming one of the most notorious killers of the Syrian people in service of Turkish agendas.

As for the Hamzat faction, or the so-called Hamza Division, it is led by the mercenary Saif Boulad (Abu Bakr) and was established after the merger of several mercenary groups under Turkish orders and support in 2016 in the city of Mare’.

The Hamzat mercenaries, who directly participated in Turkish plans, have been accused of displacing Kurds from their areas to alter the demographic structure. One of the most prominent issues highlighting this faction was the kidnapping of Kurdish women and their detention in secret prisons, which were discovered by chance in 2020 by protesters demonstrating against mercenary practices.

The leader Abu Bakr has also been linked to the murder of media activist Mohammed Abdul Latif (Abu Ghanoum) and his pregnant wife in the city of al-Bab in northern Aleppo countryside in 2022.

The United States has listed the Hamzat and Amshat mercenaries on the US Treasury sanctions list since 2023.

Leaders of both factions have a long record of close cooperation with Devlet Bahçeli, leader of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party, and with mafia figure Alaattin Çakıcı, known for his close ties to the same party.

In January 2025, the two factions announced, under the name “Joint Force,” their withdrawal from the military bloc affiliated with the so-called Syrian National Coalition, following a meeting with Ahmad al-Sharaa, without clarifying the reasons. Many observers indicated that this followed Turkish instructions.

These mercenaries are among the most prominent groups implicated in crimes committed on the Syrian coast and in Suwayda.

On 19 December, Britain announced sanctions against Mohammed al-Jassem (Abu Amsha), leader of the Sultan  Suleiman Shah Brigade, and Saif Bolad, leader of the Hamza Division. Sanctions were also imposed on three mercenary factions: Sultan Murad, Sultan Suleiman Shah, and Hamza.

Mercenaries of the Sultan Murad Brigade:

Numerous reports indicate that Turkish intelligence established this faction in mid-2012. Notably, it adopted the name of Sultan Murad, one of the most powerful and dangerous Ottoman sultans and the first to take the title “Sultan.”

Its ranks include many Turkish soldiers and intelligence elements who wear the faction’s uniform, move in its vehicles, and escort Turkish military reinforcements into occupied Syrian cities in convoys bearing the faction’s flags alongside the Turkish flag.

Its structure includes mercenary units directly affiliated with Turkish intelligence, such as the Sultan Muhammad Al-Fatih Brigade, Martyr Zaki Turkmeni Brigade, and Ashbal al-Aqeeda Brigade, as well as remnants of ISIS mercenaries who fled from Baghouz.

The Sultan Murad mercenaries bear responsibility for the execution of wounded prisoners during the occupation of Manbij on 10 December, when footage showed mercenaries speaking broken Arabic alongside Turkish during the field execution of members of the Manbij Military Council or civilians who refused the mercenaries’ entry into their city.

They were among the first mercenary formations to agree to Turkish requests to send Syrian mercenaries to Libya and Azerbaijan, paving the way for others. This led to the defection of around 3,000 mercenaries from its ranks due to reasons including wage theft and forced deployment to Libya and Niger.

The faction also placed a massive image of Erdogan on Mount Ghur in the city of Bulbul during its occupation in 2018.

The record of the Sultan Murad mercenaries is filled with heinous crimes in Azaz and occupied Afrin, including kidnapping, extortion, and rape. Their prisons are run by Turkish intelligence, including the notorious al-Rai prison.

Mercenaries of the Mu’tasim Division:

The Mu’tasim Division mercenaries were established in the city of Mare’ in northern Aleppo in the summer of 2015. They were initially active in northern Latakia countryside before being forced by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to relocate to northern Aleppo countryside.

With Turkish support, the mercenaries facilitated Turkish army incursions into Syrian territory, particularly in the area between Jarablus and Afrin from 2016 onward.

They participated in the occupation of Kurdish cities such as Afrin in 2018, and Serekaniye and Tal Abyad/Girê Spî in 2019.

Accusations of treason, corruption, abuse of power, and theft of revolutionary and public funds have pursued the leaders of the Mu’tasim Division, leading to an internal rift among the mercenaries in mid-2024.

Mercenaries of the National Front for Liberation:

This front was established in 2018 from the merger of several mercenary factions, foremost among them the Army of Victory, the Syria Liberation Front, the Elite Army, Suqour al-Sham, and other factions that were among the main attackers on the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods in 2015 and 2016, causing the displacement and killing of hundreds of Kurdish civilians in Aleppo, Afrin, and Manbij at various times.

Its formations also include the so-called Ahrar al-Sharqiya mercenaries, who opened fire on members of the Kurdish Beshmark family in the city of Jindires in occupied Afrin on the night of 20 March 2023, while they were celebrating Nowruz, resulting in the death of five people and injuries to others, followed by widespread protests demanding accountability.

With the fall of the Baath regime, all these factions joined, under pressure from the Turkish occupation, what is now known as the “Syrian Army.” However, this remained largely nominal, without ending factionalism or achieving genuine integration, according to our agency’s monitoring. These factions have remained under Turkish control and continued to target North and East Syria, with their largest attacks directed at Tishreen Dam.

A-H 

ANHA