Al-Tawhid Brigade

Liwa al-Tawhid, or the al-Tawhid Brigade (لواء التوحيد, Unity Brigade) is an armed insurgent group involved in the Syrian civil wars Battle of Aleppo. The brigade was formed in order to coordinate the battle for Aleppo and was originally composed of three subunits: the Fursan al-Jabal Brigade, the Daret Izza Brigade and the Ahrar al-Shamal Brigade. According to international news agencies like Reuters, or newspapers like Al-Ahram or As-Safir, al-Tawhid is a Qatari-backed brigade which has ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Units
The largest subunit of the Tawhid Brigade, the Ahrar al-Shamal Brigade, is present in the Kilis Corridor and has taken over the leadership of several subunits in al-Bab to the east of Aleppo. It is now part of the Syria Revolutionaries Front. The second subunit, the Fursan al-Jabal Brigade, operates in the southwest of the Aleppo Governorate near the border with the Idlib Governorate and the city of Atreb. The third subunit, the Daret Izza Brigade, 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. On 2 March 2014 the Northern Storm Brigade announced that they would join the Islamic Front under the leadership of the al-Tawhid Brigade.

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 "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 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.

In 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.