Hamza Division (Aleppo)

The Hamza Division (فرقة الحمزة) is a Syrian rebel group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, and trained and equipped by the United States and Turkey as part of the Syrian Train and Equip Program in northwestern Syria.

History
The Hamza Division was originally formed as the Hamza Brigade in the southern countryside of the Hasakah Governorate in 2013.

On 23 April 2016, 5 FSA groups based in the town of Mare' in the northern Aleppo Governorate countryside, the Hamza Brigade, the Dhi Qar Brigade, the Northern Thunder Brigade, the Mare Resistance Brigade, and the Special Operations Brigade merged into the Hamza Division due to the "interests of unity" with the intention to fight the "crime and terror" of ISIL and the Syrian government. Under the command of Syrian Army defector Lt. Saif Abu Bakr, the factions receive military support from the international coalition against ISIL. The Dhi Qa Brigade was a former member of Division 99 along with Liwa Ahfad Saladin.

In June 2016, the Northern Thunder Brigade received BGM-71 TOW missiles from the coalition. Also that month, a Syrian Turkmen group called the "Samarkand Brigade", named after the city in Uzbekistan, joined the Hamza Division.

During the Turkish military intervention in the Syrian Civil War in late August, the Hamza Division became one of the first FSA groups to enter Jarabulus from Karkamış and captured the city. Saif Abu Bakr was among those who followed behind Turkish tanks and troops and entered Jarabulus in the morning during the first day of the operation, reaching the city center by afternoon. He later gave a speech to residents in Jarabulus.

On 18 October 2016, the Northern Thunder Brigade, part of the Hamza Division, issued an ultimatum to the YPG and the Army of Revolutionaries, warning them to leave Tell Rifaat within 48 hours after which they will attack the town, though the threat was never acted on

On 24 September 2017, the Hamza Division announced the opening of a military academy in the city of al-Bab. According to Abdullah Halawa, military commander of the group, 2,200 fighters will undergo 2 months of training in the academy, with the goal of forming a "Syrian National Army" in northern Syria.