Who Are the Turkish-Backed Militias and Commanders Sanctioned by the UK Over Atrocities in Syria?

This article was co-authored by Soha Ezzi and Abbas Abbas.

In December 2025, the United Kingdom imposed a new round of sanctions on Turkish-backed factions, pro-Assad militias, and former Assad regime backers, citing serious human rights violations against civilians during the years of the Syrian civil war and later massacres on the Syrian coast in western Syria in March 2025.

A year after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took power, transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa still struggles to unify the country, as Turkish-backed Syrian National Army forces (SNA), who have been rebranded under the new Syrian Army, continue to fuel instability, highlighting ongoing Turkish interference in Syria’s fragile transition.

Profile: The Sanctioned Militia Leaders and Factions

Under the Syria (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, the UK has imposed asset freezes, travel bans, and director disqualifications on sanctioned individuals.

The sanctioned groups include three major Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) divisions: the Hamza Division, the Sultan Murad Division, and the Suleiman Shah Brigade. Their commanders, Mohammed Hussein al-Jasim (Abu Amsha) and Sayf Boulad (Abu Bakr), are also subject to sanctions.

Turkey has maintained a strategic alliance with these groups, which have been instrumental in advancing Ankara’s regional ambitions. Turkey has used these groups in several incursions against Kurdish forces, particularly the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to occupy large areas of northern Syria. Turkey has also deployed them to Libya, Azerbaijan, and Niger.

A report from the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) has linked Mohammed Hussein al-Jasim (Abu Amsha) and Sayf Boulad (Abu Bakr) to Turkey’s far-right MHP party and Turkish mafia networks. Additionally, investigations by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty show that these factions have a track record of abductions, sexual violence, and widespread looting, particularly against Kurdish and Yazidi civilians.

Reports have also outlined their involvement in massacres against Alawites in Syria’s coastal region and Druze in Suwayda in the south. Reuters found evidence of the Hamza division and Suleiman Shah Brigade’s involvement in at least eight sites where nearly 700 people were killed in the Alawite massacre in March 2025.

A recent report by the Synergy Association for Victims and interviews by The  Amargi detailed six years of systematic abuses by SNA divisions in Ras Al-Ayn (Serê Kaniyê) and Tal Abyad (Girê Spî), summarized in the following:

Despite the evidence against them, the transitional Syrian government has integrated these SNA factions and promoted their leaders to high-ranking positions in the new Syrian Army. Al-Jassem and Boulad were appointed commanders, and Fahim Issa, the leader of the Sultan Murad Division, was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense for the Northern Region within the transitional Syrian military under Ahmed al-Sharaa.

These developments highlight Ankara’s influence over Syria’s post-Assad power structure – maintaining a military presence and holding leverage over Kurdish groups and Syria’s decision-making.

The Syrian transitional government’s inaction to hold these factions accountable suggests tacit acceptance of this arrangement.

Mohammad al-Jassem (Abu Amsha) – New Syrian Army 62nd Division

Mohammed al-Jassem established the Turkish-backed Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade (Amshat) in 2018 – it was integrated into the SNA and recently reflagged as the new Syrian Army’s 62nd Division in Hama.

The Amshat have been repeatedly accused of arbitrary detention and torture against civilians, property confiscation, forced displacement, and forced demographic changes, particularly in Afrin.  Both the UK and the EU have accused them of participating in the March 2025 coastal violence. The UK sanctioned both al-Jassem personally and the Suleiman Shah Brigade as an organization.

The Amargi talked to one of al-Jassem’s victims, Berivan Osman, 31, from Qatma in Afrin’s Shirawa district, who described the trauma of displacement and loss under SNA forces. She and six of her family members were among those attacked in Shahba in late November 2024 during the “Dawn of Freedom” operation.  

“He [my father] called my mother and told her that he was trapped there due to the imposed siege. Later, we lost contact with him,” Berivan said.  When they arrived at Raqqa, they heard news of someone who had been in the neighborhood where her father was trapped, “We confirmed the victim’s identity – it turned out to be my father.”

Saif al-Din Boulad (Abu Bakr) – New Syrian Army 76th Division

Saif al-din Boulad leads another powerful Turkish-backed group called the Hamza Division (Hamzat). The group emerged during the early years of the Syrian civil war. As the conflict evolved, the division came under Turkish patronage.

After the fall of Assad, Boulad was promoted as commander of the new Syrian Army’s 76th Division in Aleppo. His division has faced allegations of killing, kidnapping, and sexual violence against civilians. The UK sanctioned both Boulad and the Hamzat division, and EU findings link the Hamza Division to systematic torture, targeted ethnic-violence, and participation in the Alawite massacre.

Ibrahim Shekho, Director of Human Rights Organization-Afrin, said that the Hamzat division, working directly with Turkish intelligence, “Is known for [perpetrating] rape and sexual harassment, particularly against detained Kurdish women and girls at the military headquarters in the Mahmoudiya neighborhood in Afrin.”

Lonjin Abdo, a human rights activist and co-founder of Lelun Association for Victims and a survivor of forced disappearance in Afrin seven years ago, said that she and her father spent over two and a half years in detention and were transferred to several prisons and torture centers, where she met around 60 Kurdish women and 20 children, as well as ISIS women prisoners. She said guards often shouted at her, “We would slaughter every Kurdish child at birth if given the chance.”

She described nonstop screams of pain from people being tortured where she was held, and “when detainees died from torture or starvation, they would wrap the corpse in a blanket and throw them into random pits, without trying to hand over the dead to their relatives or recording the death.”

Sultan Murad Division

A Turkmen-majority division, it is led by Fahim Issa, newly-appointed Deputy Minister of Defense and Commander of the Northern Region in Syria. This Division works – with close ties to Ankara – in a complex intelligence network between Syria and Turkey, targeting civilians and human rights activists, subjecting them to the most severe forms of torture, trafficking, extortion, and sexual violence. The division was sanctioned as an organization.

Ahmad Al-Hayes (Abu Hatim Shaqra) – New Syrian Army 89th Division

Ahmad al-Hayes, leading the Islamist militia Ahrar al-Sharqiya, has been promoted to commander of the 86th Division in the Raqqa, Hasakah, and Deir Ezzor. He has been accused of orchestrating the murder of Hevrîn Xelef, a prominent Kurdish politician, whose work earned her the label “peacemaker” in British Media. Killing Xelef, a vocal advocate for Kurdish rights, women’s empowerment, and peaceful coexistence, drew international condemnation.

Al-Hayes has been linked to violent crackdowns on civilian populations in northern Syria, with his forces reportedly responsible for targeted killings and human rights abuses. His group has also allegedly been involved in recent attacks against SDF positions in the Raqqa region.

Assadist militias and loyalists

The UK, similar to previous steps taken by the EU in June, has also sanctioned four figures linked to the Assad regime, targeting both military enforcers and financial backers.

Ghiath Suleiman Dalla, a former commander in Maher al-Assad’s Fourth Armored Division, played a central role in the brutal suppression of civilian uprisings, including the sieges of Daraya and Ghouta. He later formed the Iran- and Hezbollah-backed Ghaith Forces. After the regime’s fall in 2024, Dalla’s attempt to rally loyalist forces into a rebel coalition led to sectarian violence against Alawite civilians.

Miqdad Fteiha, a former Republican Guard officer, leads the Coastal Shield Brigade and is accused of extrajudicial killings, kidnappings, and corruption.

The sanctions also target Syrian-Russian businessmen Mudalal and Imad Khoury, brothers from Homs who allegedly built international financial networks and helped sustain the Assad regime for nearly three decades.

Officials and strategic experts close to the Syrian transitional government have reported that UK sanctions significantly impact the operational capabilities of the Ministry of Defense. Western powers acknowledging these armed factions as perpetrators of war crimes could obstruct normalization with the new Syria.