Raqqa Hawks Brigade

Raqqa Hawks Brigade
لواء صقور الرقة‎ Liwa Suqur al Raqqa Participant in Syrian Civil War
Logo of the Raqqa Hawks Brigade.
Active	2015 — present
Groups	Ghanim group Martyr Tasleem Jimmo Brigade Northern Union (formerly, presumed destroyed)
Leaders	Abu Saleh al-Hindawi(top commander) Abu Adnan(top commander) Fayad Ghanim (leader of the Ghanim group) Ayman Ghanim(Ghanim group spokesman) Abu Yamen al-Meko (POW)(leader of Northern Union) Aboud al-Hafez(Martyr Tasleem Jimmo Brigade leader) Abu Mustafa
Headquarters	Tell Abyad
Area of operations	Raqqa Governorate Aleppo Governorate Al-Hasakah Governorate
Size	c. 1,000 50+ (Ghanim group) c. 300 (Martyr Tasleem Jimmo Brigade)
Part of	Syrian Democratic Forces
Originated as	Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa sub-unit
Allies	YPG, YPJ, MFS and other SDF affiliates  United States Syrian government (Northern Union and Ghanim group)
Opponents	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Battles and wars	Syrian Civil War Raqqa offensive (2016–present) Battle of Tabqa (2017) Battle of Raqqa (2017)

c. 1,000

Syrian Civil War

The Raqqa Hawks Brigade (Arabic: لواء صقور الرقة‎, translit. Liwa Suqur al Raqqa‎), also known as Raqqa Falcons Brigade, is a primarily Arab militia, composed mostly of Raqqa natives, that is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and fights against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The unit's stated goal is to recapture its home city from ISIL.

The unit was originally formed as battalion of Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa in early 2015, but left the group sometime during 2016. Its members are motivated by a variety of reasons, such as a desire for revenge against ISIL and to free their homelands from ISIL's oppressive and repressive regime.

When the group joined the offensive to capture Raqqa in November 2016, it had around 1,000 fighters and was expected to be a "key component of the fight for the city". The Raqqa Hawks Brigade possesses several technicals and gun trucks, the latter of which were mostly captured from ISIL. In mid-November, the Raqqa Hawks Brigade took part in the several days-long battle for Tal Saman, the ISIL headquarters in the northern Raqqa countryside.

In December, tensions rose between Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa and the Raqqa Hawks Brigade, with several military commanders of the former reportedly defecting to the latter. On 27 December, however, the Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa commanders claimed on video that they had been kidnapped by the Raqqa Hawks Brigade and forced to announce their defection, and that they were still loyal to Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa.

On 20 February 2017, one sub-commander of the Raqqa Hawks Brigade, Abu Yamen al-Meko, who reportedly had strong links to the Military Intelligence Directorate, declared his loyalty to Bashar al-Assad and formed the pro-government unit "Northern Union". His followers consequently raised the Ba'athist flag at their headquarters in the village of al-Fares. These actions, however, provoked the ire of Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa, which launched a surprise attack on al-Fares two days later and destroyed al-Meko's faction, killing or capturing its members. Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa went on to declare that it "would never allow the regime and its supporting militia to re-enter the city [of Raqqa] by any means".