Active 23 March 2013—present | ||
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Ideology Neo-OttomanismTurkish nationalism Groups Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror BrigadeSultan Murad BrigadeAlparslan Special ForcesMartyr Zaki Turkmani BrigadeAshbal Akida BrigadeSultan Malik-Shah BrigadeSuleyman-Shah Brigade Leaders Col. Ahmad Othman (Ahmet Osman)Fahim Eissa (Fehim İsa)Ali Şeyh Salih (DOW) Headquarters Bustan al-Basha, Aleppo, Syria (Destroyed in November 2016) | ||
The Sultan Murad Division (Arabic: فرقة السلطان مراد; Firqat al-Sultan Murad, Turkish: Sultan Murat Tümeni) is an armed rebel group in the Syrian Civil War, created around Syrian Turkmen identity. They are aligned with the Syrian opposition and are heavily supported by Turkey, who provides funding and military training along with artillery and aerial support. They are the most notable group among Syrian Turkmen Brigades supported by Turkey.
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Ideology and structure
Named after Ottoman Sultan Murad II, the flag of the Sultan Murad Division quotes the Shahada to express a political commitment to political Islam (Islamism), while the red field symbolizes Turkish nationalism, fusioning in their core ideology of Neo-Ottomanism.
Several commanders of the group are Ahmed Othman, Fehim İsa and Ali Şeyh Salih, who is an ethnic Arab.
Equipment
Among the Syrian rebel groups participating in the Turkish military intervention in Syria, the Sultan Murad Division is the group that receives the most support from the Turkish Armed Forces. It operates at least 8 FNSS ACV-15 armoured personnel carriers during the operation. The group also operate Milkor MGL grenade launchers.
The main heavy weapons of the group consist of technical vehicles armed with heavy machine guns and autocannons. Previously it has also received BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles from the United States, although more support is given by Turkey than the US since the former's intervention.
History
The Sultan Murad Brigade was formed in early 2013 and mainly operates in the Aleppo Governorate, claiming to process around 1,300 fighters as of 2016 and as Turkmen participation is growing, the group reports, their numbers are increasing.
Allegations of war crimes
On 25 October 2013, the Sultan Murad Division shelled a monastery in Aleppo.
In a video from February 2016 showing a Sultan Murad Division artillery team in Aleppo in action, an explicit order to fire on civilians is given.
A United Nations report in February 2017 came to the conclusion that during the siege of Eastern Aleppo the joint operations room of Syrian rebel factions Fatah Halab including the Sultan Murad Division, after vowing to take revenge on the Kurds in Sheikh Maqsoud, intentionally attacked civilian inhabited neighbourhoods of the Kurdish enclave, killing and maiming dozens of civilians, and that these acts constitute the war crime of directing attacks against a civilian population. On 10 January 2017, the Hawar News Agency claimed that the brigade had tortured a civilian from Tat Hims to death, releasing footage of his corpse.