Mountain Hawks Brigade
| Mountain Falcons Brigade | |
|---|---|
|
Liwa’ Suqour al-Jabal لواء صقور الجبل Participant in the Syrian Civil War | |
 Logo of the Mountain Hawks Brigade | |
| Active | September 2012–present |
| Ideology | Islamism |
| Leaders | Capt. Hassan Haj Ali[1] |
| Headquarters | Jabal Zawiya, Idlib Governorate, Syria |
| Area of operations | |
| Strength | 2,500 fighters (2016) (own claim)[2] |
| Part of |
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| Allies | |
| Opponents | |
| Battles and wars | |
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The Mountain Falcons Brigade (Arabic: لواء صقور الجبل, translit. Liwa’ Suqour al-Jabal), formerly the Falcons of Mount Zawiya Brigade. is Saudi-sponsored Free Syrian Army rebel group operating in northwestern Syria. The group takes its name from the Zawiya Mountain in the Idlib Governorate.
History
In September 2012, a former Syrian Army captain Hassan Haj Ali, who defected in 2011, formed the Falcons of Mount Zawiya Brigade as a subunit of the Ahfad al-Rasul Brigade.[4]
In early 2014 the Falcons of Mount Zawiya Brigade joined the Syria Revolutionaries Front but later left the SRF due to internal disputes. It was one of the founding members of the 5th Corps but it also became defunct. Since 2014 the group is supplied with BGM-71 TOW missiles from the CIA through Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, and is one of the original and most prolific users of the missiles in Syria.[5]
At the beginning of the Russian military intervention in Syria in October 2015, the headquarters of the Mountain Falcons Brigade was hit by 20 air-to-surface missiles from the Russian Air Force.[1] 2 months later, The Suqour al-Jabal Brigade clashed with the newly founded Syrian Democratic Forces in the northern Aleppo Governorate, capturing a village from the Army of Revolutionaries. Suqour al-Jabal fighters then took down and burned the flags of the SDF and the Army of Revolutionaries while chanting "Allahu Akbar". The group also participated along with other Fatah Halab factions in the shelling of the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood in Aleppo.[6]
In September 2016 most of the Mountain Falcons Brigade, along with the Northern Division and the 13th Division, formed the Free Idlib Army,[7] although a group of fighters defected to join Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in early October.[8]
See also
References
- 1 2 "The U.S.-Backed Groups In Syria That Say They Are Being Bombed By Russia". RFERL. 2 October 2015.
- ↑ "CAPTAIN HASSAN HAJ ALI: SYRIAN COMMANDER OF THE US-VETTED MOUNTAIN HAWKS BRIGADE". Yalla Souriya. 4 May 2016.
- ↑ "Iran troops to join Syria war, Russia bombs group trained by CIA". Reuters. 7 October 2015.
- ↑ "The formation of a brigade of the Zawiya Mountain Hawks to block the descendants of the Prophet". Mohammed Deyaa/Youtube. 6 September 2012.
- ↑ "THE MODERATE REBELS: A GROWING LIST OF VETTED GROUPS FIELDING BGM-71 TOW ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILES". Hasan Mustafas. 5 August 2015.
- ↑ "YPG, allies clash with Syrian opposition groups in Aleppo". Middle East Eye. 29 November 2015.
- ↑ "FSA in Idlib… A new launch towards unified military action". RFS Media Office. 20 September 2016.
- ↑ US-backed rebels defect to al-Qaeda branch in Syria Al Masdar News, 5 October 2016
