Al-Mu'tasim Brigade

The al-Mu'tasim Brigade ((لواء المعتصم, Liwa' muetasim) is a Free Syrian Army faction active in the northern Aleppo Governorate, based in the town of Mare'. The group was named after al-Mu'tasim, an Abbasid caliph.

Equipment
The Mu'tasim Brigade is known for possessing a large amount of US-supplied weapons from the Syrian Train and Equip Program, including M16 rifles, M249 light machine guns, M240 machine guns, Soltam K6, M224 mortars, M252 mortars, M2 Browning, and technicals. This led to reports being made that this group is supplied by the United States. The group did not receive anti-tank missiles from the US.

Ideology
The Mu'tasim Brigade supports the political Syrian peace process. However, it opposes the U.S.–Russia peace proposals on Syria. The commander of the group has called for "freedom and justice", which led to tensions between him and the al-Nusra Front, seeing him as a threat to al-Nusra's caliphate project.

History
The group's commander, Lieutenant colonel Mohammad Hassan Khalil, was originally a rebel commander in Jabal al-Akrad, Latakia Governorate. However, in 2015 he was forced out of Latakia by the al-Nusra Front after tensions between the two groups. His group then moved to Aleppo.

In April 2016 the group participated in the Northern Aleppo offensive (March–June 2016), along with the Sham Legion and the Sultan Murad Division, driving vehicles from Doudiyan toward ISIL positions in al-Rai and capturing 8 villages in the way.

In June the group formed an alliance with Liwa Ahfad Saladin and 6 other rebel groups in Mare' after breaking an ISIL siege on the town. The new coalition claims to have 1,500 fighters under a unified military command and established contact with the rival Syrian Democratic Forces. Later that month, Mohammad Hassan Khalil was kidnapped in Mare'. The Moutasem Brigade accused Major General Dara Aza, former commander of rebels in Mare', and al-Nusra Front of carrying out the abduction.

In August and September the Moutasem Brigade participated in the Turkish military intervention in Syria which captured Jarabulus and al-Rai.

On 12 April 2017, 100 new fighters of the Mutasim Brigade graduated after they completed training in a camp near Mare', bringing the total number of members in the group to 1,000, according to one of its commanders.

On 29 June 2017, Awad Abu Saqr, a military commander in the Mutasim Brigade, defected to the Syrian Democratic Forces.