Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades

The Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades (ألوية أحفاد الرسول Al-wīat Aḥfād ar-Rasūl, "Grandsons of the Prophet Brigades") was a Syrian rebel group fighting against the Syrian government in the Syrian Civil War. It was funded by the Qatari government.

Structure and member groups
Its notable subgroups included the Justice Battalion, the Golan Martyrs Battalion, the Golan Hawks Battalion, the Mount Zawiya Hawks Brigade, and the Qalamoun Liberation Front. By August 2013, the group had coopted some 50 groups from across Syria; however, it was strongest in Idlib Governorate. Ahfad al-Rasul took part in the 2 September 2012 bombing that targeted the Syrian Army General Staff building in Damascus, in coordination with Ansar al-Islam. Its leader, Colonel Ziad Haj Obaid, was on the Arms Committee of the Supreme Military Council of the FSA.

History
In December 2012, the Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades executed a Syrian Army officer on allegations of heresy. By this time, the group was described as a Salafist jihadist group independent from the Free Syrian Army.

By early 2014, the Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades was being described as defunct, with many subunits rebranding themselves as members of the Syria Revolutionaries Front. Former members of the group are also part of the 1st Coastal Division. Reports appeared in early 2017 that possible remnants of the Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades have appeared as the Army of Grandsons in the northern Aleppo Governorate to fight ISIL as part of operation Euphrates Shield.