Hawar Kilis Operations Room

The Hawar Kilis Operations Room ( ar, غرفة عمليات حوار كلس, tr, Havar Kilis Operasyon Odası) is a Syrian rebel coalition formed in the village of Hawar Kilis in April 2016 in the northern Aleppo Governorate on the Syria–Turkey border.

As part of the Syrian Train and Equip Program, many groups in the coalition were supplied with Thuraya satellite phones by the United States.

The operations room forms a large part of the Syrian National Army, which was, with Turkish backing, formed around the Operations Room.

Member groups

* Victory Bloc
**Elite Division (also part of the 2nd Legion)
**Army of the Grandsons (also part of the 1st Legion and the Sultan Murad Bloc)
** Elite Army c(northern Aleppo branch)
*** 14th Division
**** 141st Brigade
**** 145th Brigade
**** Elite Battalion
**1st Brigade
** Sham Legion
***Free North Brigade
***Sham Commandos Brigade
****Sons of Waer Battalion
****Revolutionaries of Waer Battalion
**Authenticity and Development Front (northern Aleppo branch)
**Sultan Murad Division
** Hamza Division
**Army of Grandsons
** Al-Mu'tasim Brigade
** Northern Brigade
*** Revolutionary Knights Brigade
**** Free Syria Brigade
**** Swords of Shahba Brigade
*** Manbij Revolutionaries Gathering
*** Soldiers of Mercy Battalion
*** Martyr Alaa Abu Zaid Battalion
*** Honest Dawn Battalion
*** Sirajuddin Battalion
*** Supporters of God Battalion
*** Omar Abu al-Hasan Battalion
*** Commandos of the Sunna Battalions
*** Commandos of Islam Brigade
***Zubayr ibn al-Awwam Battalion
***Al-Rafidayn al-Aeamila Battalion
***Qiba Martyrs Battalion
***Northern Commando Battalion
***Jarabulus Martyrs Battalion
***Martyr Alaa Barir Battalion
** 23rd Division (northern Aleppo branch)
**Sultan Suleyman Shah Brigade
**Northern Hawks Brigade
** 9th Special Forces Division of Aleppo
**Mustafa Regiment
**1st Commandos Brigade
**Sultan Othman Brigade
*Free Idlib Army (northern Aleppo branch)
** 13th Division
** Northern Division
** Mountain Hawks Brigade
*1st Division of Aleppo
*51st Brigade
* Saladin Brigade ( Descendants of Saladin Brigade remnant)
** Descendants of Saladin Brigade (until July 2017)
* 2nd Army (northern Aleppo branch)
* 1st Regiment

Structure

The Hawar Kilis Operations Room consists of three military "blocs": the Victory Bloc, the Sultan Murad Bloc, and the Levant Bloc. At the end of October 2016, a security committee was formed to man checkpoints in the villages and towns it controls. A judicial committee to supervise courts was also established.

History

The coalition took part in the northern Aleppo offensive, beginning with April 2016, and captured several villages in northern Aleppo overlooking al-Rai from ISIL, before entering al-Rai itself. However, ISIL soon launched a large-scale counteroffensive and recaptured most of the villages, including al-Rai.

In early October 2016 the group formed the Akhtarin Military Council which captured several villages and the town of Akhtarin from ISIL as part of the 2016 Dabiq offensive, ending with the capture of Dabiq and several more other villages, linking Mare' with al-Rai.

On 28 October the group formed the "Victory Bloc" operations room during the western al-Bab offensive.

On 28 January 2017, after the formation of Tahrir al-Sham which the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement's main branch became part of, the Zenki Movement's northern Aleppo branch working with Hawar Kilis Operations Room defected to the Sham Legion and formed the Revolutionary Knights Brigade.

On 7 June 2017, a unit in the Hawar Kilis Operations Room defected to the Syrian Democratic Forces.

In July 2017, the commander of Liwa Ahfad Saladin, Mahmoud Khallo, declared that the group would not participate in a planned Turkish-led offensive against the SDF in the Afrin Canton and the Shahba region. Following the announcement, the group was arrested and disarmed by the Levant Front and the Turkish Army. After being released soon after, Khallo protested against his unit's treatment and criticized that Turkey was apparently only interested in using the Syrian militias to further its own strategic goals. He also said that Liwa Ahfad Saladin, now without weapons, would set up a political party.

On 26 August 2017, the Hawar Kilis Operations Room condemned Riad al-Asaad and accused him of conspiring with al-Qaeda after he attended a conference held by Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib.

References

{{Syrian Civil War

Anti-government factions of the Syrian civil war
Anti-ISIL factions in Syria
Military units and factions of the Syrian civil war
Military units and formations established in 2015
Operations rooms of the Syrian civil war
Rebel groups in Syria
Turkish supported militant groups of the Syrian civil war