Following the recent fighting in the Kurdish-populated Aleppo city neighbourhoods of Shaykh Maqsud and Ashrafiya that saw the expulsion of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and central government takeover, some observers noted that the Alawite insurgent group Fawj Azra’il al-Jabal put out an announcement apparently claiming to have lost four fighters in the clashes. For some, this was supposedly a major revelation that proves some kind of alliance between the SDF and ‘regime remnants’ to undermine the government.
But what exactly is the story here? I asked Fawj Azra’il al-Jabal’s leader Abu Ali Sumer to explain (and in this regard, I would like to thus make clear that the rumours of his arrest are untrue).
According to Abu Ali, the contingent of fighters who fought against the government’s forces were originally Alawite personnel of the former Syrian army (including conscripts). As the former regime collapsed, they found themselves stranded in the Aleppo area and unable to return home to the coastal region, and so they decided to take refuge in SDF-controlled Shaykh Maqsud and Ashrafiya—hardly surprising given that there have been assassinations in the Aleppo area outside those neighbourhoods, targeting people who worked with the former regime and its forces.
As the former regime collapsed, they found themselves stranded in the Aleppo area and unable to return home to the coastal region.
Abu Ali explained that while there was contact between Fawj Azra’il al-Jabal and this contingent in Shaykh Maqsud and Ashrafiya, the weapons the latter bore were their own, and they remained in Shaykh Maqsud and Ashrafiya as they could not reach Fawj Azra’il al-Jabal in the coastal region. In other words, the connection was only one of contact.
He added that whether or not the contingent became formally affiliated with the SDF, it was fighting in ‘self-defence’ against the government forces’ assault, as they feared that they would be mistreated on a sectarian basis. In this regard, it should be noted that Fawj Azra’il al-Jabal says that one of the corpses reportedly desecrated in the fighting belonged to a fighter of this contingent. With the final government takeover of Shaykh Maqsud and Ashrafiya, the surviving remainder of the contingent have headed with SDF personnel and others who rejected government control to SDF-held areas east of the Euphrates.
As such, this story is another reflection of a wider phenomenon of Alawites who have sought protection under the SDF and in SDF-held territory, for reasons such as fear of being arrested on grounds of connection to the former regime and fear of sectarian persecution. However, it would be erroneous to speak on this basis of a broader alliance between the SDF and ‘regime remnants’ against the government. Rather, some Alawites who have sought refuge under the SDF and in SDF-held territory may be in contact with Alawite insurgent groups like Fawj Azra’il al-Jabal, but it is not evidence that the SDF more broadly is coordinating with those groups against the government.
Published originally on January 13, 2026.
