Al-Tawhid Brigade

al-Tawhid Brigade
لواء التوحيد Participant in the Syrian Civil War
Official logo of the Tawhid Brigade Official logo of the Tawhid Brigade
Active	18 July 2012 (2012-07-18) – 2014
Ideology	Sunni Islamism
Leaders	Abdul Qader Saleh † (Top Commander July 2012–November 2013) Adnan Bakkour † (Top Commander November 2013–January 2014) Abdelaziz Salameh (Top Commander January 2014-Present) Mohammed Hamadeen (Ahrar al-Shamal Brigade) Yusef al-Jader † (Senior commander in Aleppo) Yussef Al-Abbas † (Intelligence chief)
Headquarters	Aleppo
Area of operations	Aleppo Governorate Homs Governorate Al-Raqqah Governorate of Syria
Strength	10,000 (own claim) (Nov 2012) 11,000 (Oct 2013)
Part of	Free Syrian Army Syrian Revolutionary Command Council Syrian Islamic Liberation Front (formerly) Islamic Front
Merger of	Ahrar al-Shamal Brigade Fursan al-Jabal Brigade Daret Izza Brigade
Allies	al-Nusra Front Ahrar ash-Sham Jaysh al-Islam Ajnad al-Sham Islamic Union Army of Mujahedeen Alwiya al-Furqan Sham Legion
Opponents	Syrian Armed Forces Popular Protection Units (formerly) Ghuraba al-Sham Hezbollah Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Battles and wars	Syrian Civil War Battle of Aleppo (2012–present) Battle of al-Qusayr (2013) 2013 Latakia offensive Syrian opposition-Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant conflict

The al-Tawhid Brigade (Arabic: لواء التوحيد‎, translit. Liwa al-Tawhid, lit. 'Brigade of Oneness'), named after Tawhid, the "oneness of God," but often mistranslated as Unity Brigade, was an armed Islamist insurgent group involved in the Syrian Civil War. Reportedly backed by Qatar, al-Tawhid was considered one of the biggest groups in northern Syria, dominating much of the insurgency around Aleppo.

The group was formed in 2012 in order to coordinate the Battle of Aleppo, with the stated mission to found a "civil state in Syria with Islam being the main source of legislation." Affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, in late 2013 it co-signed a joint statement calling for Sharia law and rejecting the authority of the Syrian National Coalition.

Originally composed of three subunits, the Fursan al-Jabal Brigade, the Daret Izza Brigade and the Ahrar al-Shamal Brigade, it became defunct in 2014 following the death of its leader Abdul Qader Saleh in a devastating Syrian Army airstrike. Its northern branch, the Ahrar al-Shamal Brigade, was reportedly "superseded" by the Northern Sun Battalion (Shams al-Shamal).

Their fighters became a core part of the Levant Front.

Branches

The Tawhid Brigade consisted was organized into three branches:

• The Ahrar al-Shamal Brigade, as the largest subunit of the Tawhid Brigade, was present in the Kilis Corridor and took over the leadership of several subunits in al-Bab to the east of Aleppo. It is now part of the Syria Revolutionaries Front.
• The Fursan al-Jabal Brigade operated in the southwest of Aleppo Governorate near the border with the Idlib Governorate and the city of Atarib.
• The Daret Izza Brigade, named after the town of Daret Izza, operates most likely in the western part of the city of Aleppo.

Around June 2013 the Tawhid Brigade was reorganised into nearly 30 sub-factions.

In November 2013, Al-Safwa Islamic Battalions left Al-Tawhid Brigade.

On 2 March 2014 the Northern Storm Brigade announced that they would join the Islamic Front under the leadership of the al-Tawhid Brigade.

At some point Al-Fawj al-Awal was a member group.

History

Activity

In November 2012, the Tawhid Brigade announced their support for the Syrian National Coalition but called for greater representation in the coalition. The brigade's leadership called for "a civil state where the basis of legislation is the Islamic faith, with consideration for all the [minority] groups of Syria". They thereby implicitly rejected an earlier statement they had made, with other local factions, which had called for an Islamic state in Syria and denouncing the Syrian National Coalition.

In January 2013, the Tawhid Brigade announced on its website that it had become a member of the Syrian Islamic Liberation Front.

In May 2013, the hell cannon, a mortar-like improvised firearm designed and built by the insurgent group Ahrar al-Shamal Brigade, was first noted in the press.

In June 2013, Tawhid Brigade sent over 300 fighters under the command of Saleh and the Aleppo Military Council's Obaidi to the Battle of al-Qusayr.

On the 22nd September 2013, the Tawhid Brigade joined the Islamic Front coalition. The group is formed largely from the Syrian Liberation Front, which is officially dissolved in the process.

On 24 September 2013, the Tawhid Brigade co-signed a statement with 11 other rebel groups which called for Sharia law and, allying with al-Qaeda, rejected the authority of the Syrian National Coalition.

Disintegration

On 14 November 2013, a Syrian Air Force airstrike bombarded an army base held by Al Tawhid brigade in Aleppo killing a commander by the name of Youssef al-Abbas also injuring two others including Al Tawhid's head commander Abdul Qader Saleh. Saleh subsequently died of his wounds in a Turkish hospital.

Following the death of Saleh, the Tawhid Brigade reportedly suffered serious internal divisions and lost considerable members in defections to other rebel factions. They also experienced a sharp reduction in military assistance from Gulf states, due to US pressure to support more moderate rebel groups. It eventually went defunct, with its northern branch Ahrar al-Shamal being "superseded" by the Northern Sun Battalion (Shams al-Shamal).

See also

• List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War

External links

• www.youtube.com/channel

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