Active April 2016—present Headquarters Hawar Kilis Strength 5,000+ | Leaders Mohamed Dheere Area of operations Aleppo Governorate Part of Free Syrian Army | |
The Hawar Kilis Operations Room (Arabic: غرفة عمليات حوار كلس, Turkish: Havar Kilis Operasyon Odası) is a rebel coalition formed in the village of Hawar Kilis in April 2016, made up of rebel groups affiliated with the Free Syrian Army in the northern Aleppo Governorate on the Syria-Turkey border. It closely coordinates with the Turkish Armed Forces and is the main rebel faction taking part in the Turkish military intervention in Syria since August 2016.
Contents
As part of the Syrian Train and Equip Program, many of the groups in the coalition were supplied with Thuraya satellite phones by the United States.
Structure
The Hawar Kilis Operations Room consists of 3 military "blocs". 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 8 November the Qabasin Military Council was formed, while the SDF-affiliated council rejected the military council on allegations of cooperating with IS.
On 28 January 2016, Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement's branch working with Hawar Kilis Operations Room defected to Sham Legion.