Malhama Tactical is a

private military contractor A private military company (PMC) or private military and security company (PMSC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their personnel as "security contractors" or "private military ...

operating in the Syrian Civil War. The group, founded by a pseudonymous Uzbeki jihadist called Abu Rofiq, is closely allied with

Jabhat Fateh al-Sham Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...

and its successor group

Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) (, transliteration: ', "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant" or "Levant Liberation Committee"), commonly referred to as Tahrir al-Sham, is a Sunni Islamist political and armed organisation involved in the ...

. Its around dozen members occasionally participate in combat and run guns, but primarily provide training. The company has worked with

Ahrar al-Sham Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya ( ar-at, حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية, Ḥarakat Aḥrāru š-Šām al-Islāmiyah, lit=Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition ...

and the

Turkistan Islamic Party The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) or the Turkistan Islamic Movement (TIM), formerly known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and other names, is a Uyghur Islamic extremist organization founded in Western China. Its stated goals ar ...

. According to the pro-government

Al-Masdar News ''Al-Masdar News'' (sometimes abbreviated ''AMN'') ( ar, المصدر نيوز) is an online newspaper founded by Leith Abou Fadel. Al-Masdar is Arabic for "the source". ''Al-Masdar''s coverage focuses largely on conflict zones in the Middle E ...

, its leader Abu Rofiq was killed in an airstrike on 7 February 2017, though his death has been questioned. The group stands in opposition to

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

History

The company was founded in 2015 and came to prominence in early 2017. However, according to the

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account of the current leader of Malhama Tactical, Abu Salman Belarus, the group has been active since 2013 in what he has described as "emergency aid on the battlefield." They have been noted for their prolific and successful use of social media to advertise their services. Malhama Tactical is active in the Idlib-Aleppo region. Fighters are noted to be considerably better trained than other Syrian fighters, although not as good as Western soldiers, and to be very well equipped. According to Al-Masdar, they are well trained in medical care, which allows them to reduce their casualties. In May and July 2017, Malhama Tactical conducted raids against government forces in the western Aleppo Governorate alongside

Ajnad al-Kavkaz , war = Syrian Civil War , image = Ajnad Al-Kavkaz flag.svg , caption = Flag of Ajnad al-Kavkaz. , groups = , active = 2015–''present'' , ideology = *Sunni Islamic fundamentali ...

. In November 2018, Malhama Tactical together with

conducted a night raid on a Syrian Army & Russian base, in which allegedly 25 soldiers were killed, seven of whom were Russians. After the death of Abu Salman (Abu Rofiq), Ali Al-Shishani became the new leader of Malhama Tactical. Due to its high level of specialization, organization and usage it has been dubbed the " Blackwater of Jihad".

External links

Official Website

References

Anti-government factions of the Syrian civil war {{company-stub