Northern Division (Syrian rebel group)

Northern Division
الفرقة الشمالية Participant in the Syrian Civil War
Logo of the Northern Division Flag of the Knights of Justice Brigade
Active	25 February 2012—present (Knights of Justice Brigade) December 2015—present (Northern Division)
Groups	Knights of Justice Brigade 101st Infantry Division (December 2015—June 2016)
Leaders	Lt. Col. Fares Bayoush (former, resigned in 2017) 1st Lt. Mohamed Khaled Bayoush
Headquarters	Kafr Nabl
Area of operations	Hama Governorate Idlib Governorate Aleppo Governorate
Strength	1,400 total, 300 active combatants (2013) 1,200 (2015)
Part of	Free Syrian Army Free Idlib Army 5th Corps (2014) 13th Division (2013–14) Syrian Revolutionary Command Council Fatah Halab Mare' Operations Room Hawar Kilis Operations Room Rad al-Mazalem
Originated as	Knights of Justice Battalion
Became	Free Idlib Army
Allies	101st Infantry Division Mountain Hawks Brigade 13th Division Islamic Front
Opponents	Syrian Armed Forces National Defence Forces Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Syrian Democratic Forces
Battles and wars	Syrian Civil War Northwestern Syria offensive (April–June 2015) Northwestern Syria offensive (October–November 2015) Aleppo offensive (April 2016) Northern Aleppo offensive (March–April 2016) Russia military intervention in the Syrian civil war

Syrian Civil War

The Northern Division (Arabic: الفرقة الشمالية‎‎), formerly the Knights of Justice Brigade (Arabic: لواء فرسان الحق‎‎, Liwa Fursan al-Haqq), is a Free Syrian Army group sanctioned by the Syrian National Council and formerly part of the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council. The group received BGM-71 TOW missiles from the United States and Saudi Arabia, and is also armed, trained, and funded by Qatar.

The Knights of Justice Battalion was formed on 25 February 2012 by a defected Syrian Army first lieutenant Mohammed Khaled Bayoush in the town of Kafr Nabl in the Idlib Governorate. In September 2012 the group changed its name to the Knights of Justice Brigade after absorbing several smaller rebel groups. Former Syrian Air Force lieutenant colonel Fares Bayoush became its overall commander.

In June 2013, the group was one of the founding members of the 13th Division, but later left the group.

The group received funding, including salaries for its fighters, from the CIA, before being cut off in December 2014 following battlefield reversals at the hands of the al-Nusra Front.

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