The 23rd Division () or 16th Infantry Division () was a Syrian rebel group affiliated with the

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...

. Formed in September 2013, the group was active mainly in the city

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

and its surroundings. After rebel lines in Aleppo collapsed due to advances by the

Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...

during the Battle of Aleppo in mid-2016, the 16th Division suffered heavy casualties and was dissolved. Remnants of the group then formed the 23rd Division (). The

Syrian National Army The Syrian National Army (SNA; ), also known as the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (TFSA), is a coalition of armed Syrian opposition groups that participate in the Syrian civil war. Comprising various rebel factions that emerged at the sta ...

faction of the group in northern Aleppo was disbanded after its leadership was attacked by the Levant Front in August 2020, with its other members were transferred to other groups under the SNA's 3rd Legion, while its Idlib branch continued to operate.

History

16th Division

The 16th Division was formed on 19 September 2013 as a merger of 10 rebel groups in the city of Aleppo. Its main subgroup, the Badr Martyrs' Brigade, was infamous for

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

, and most notably mass

looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

of factories in Aleppo districts and shipping truckloads of looted items to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. In October 2013, the 16th Division's territory in northern Aleppo was overran by the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

. During the ISIL offensive, ISIL fighters captured a 16th Division base and found a large quantity of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In book-keeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-i ...

in the form of

United States dollar The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

hashish Hashish (; ), usually abbreviated as hash, is a Compression (physics), compressed form of resin (trichomes) derived from the cannabis flowers. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, As a Psychoactive drug, psychoactive ...

, and

gas cylinder A gas cylinder is a pressure vessel for storage and containment of gases at above atmospheric pressure. Gas storage cylinders may also be called ''bottles''. Inside the cylinder the stored contents may be in a state of compressed gas, vapor ov ...

s used in the production of hell cannons used by the group. In November 2013, in response to the "aggression" on their "brothers" of ISIL by the 16th Division, the

al-Aqsa Al-Aqsa (; ) or al-Masjid al-Aqṣā () and also is the compound of Islamic religious buildings that sit atop the Temple Mount, also known as the Haram al-Sharif, in the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Dome of the Rock, many mosques and ...

Brigade defected from the 16th Division. In February 2014, the Badr Martyrs' Brigade of the 16th Division clashed with the foreign jihadist-led Jaysh al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar over the Haritan and Mallah areas of Aleppo. An agreement was then signed on 16 February between Badr Martyrs' Brigade leader Abdul Khaliq Lahyani and Jaysh al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar representative Abu Karim al- Ukraini under the auspices of

Ahrar al-Sham Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya (), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, was a coalition of multiple Sunni Islamist units that coalesced into a single brigade and later a division in order to fight against the Syrian Government led by Bas ...

representative Abu Amir al-Shami, in which the two groups agreed to release their prisoners from the other party and to work together against the Syrian government, and the Badr Martyrs' Brigade agreed to not set up military headquarters in and around Mallah and to hand over houses to Jaysh al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, while Jaysh al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar agreed for its fighters to remain in these houses and its headquarters, not to stand masked at checkpoints which were to be manned by Ahrar al-Sham and the

al-Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra or Jabhat Nusrat Ahl al-Sham, also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant, and also later known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham was a Salafi-jihadist organization that fought against Ba'athist Syria, Ba'athist ...

. However, on the next day the commander of Jaysh al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, Salahuddin al-Shishani, stated that al-Ukraini signed the agreement without consulting him and the rest of Jaysh al-Muhajireen and Ansar's leadership. Al-Shishani denounced the Badr Martyrs' Brigade as apostates "supported by the infidel

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

" through the Supreme Military Council, and rejected the agreement as invalid. In January 2015, the al-Nusra Front captured 11 fighters from the 16th Division in Aleppo during the former's conflict with the Hazzm Movement. In response, the 16th Division called for the unconditional release of its fighters. On 7 December 2015, the 16th Division and the Knights of Justice Brigade conducted a joint bombing of the Syrian government defence laboratory in the central Khalidiya district of Aleppo. Since November 2015, the group took part in the indiscriminate shelling of

Sheikh Maqsoud Sheikh Maqsood (, , ), sometimes spelled al-Sheikh Maqsoud, Maqsud or Maksud, is a Kurdish-majority neighborhood in the city of Aleppo, Syria. Syrian Civil War During the Syrian Civil War, the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units (YPG) t ...

, which killed dozens of civilians and sparked a retaliation from the

People's Protection Units The People's Defense Units (YPG), also called People's Protection Units, is a libertarian socialist US-backed Kurds in Syria, Kurdish militant group in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG mostl ...

(YPG), which killed several of its members in April 2016. During the northern Aleppo offensive (June-July 2016), the 16th Division suffered heavy casualties, including 29 killed, more than 54 wounded, and 7 missing, its headquarter overran, and its commanders, including the top leader, Abdul Khaliq Lahyani, resigned and was relieved of all duties. A new commander, former

Syrian Air Force The Syrian Air Force () is the air force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It was established in 1948, and first saw action in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Under Ba'athist Syria until December 8, 2024, it was known as the Syrian Arab Air Forc ...

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Hassan Rajoub, was appointed. Subsequently, the group went defunct.

23rd Division

Following the 16th Division's dissolution in July 2016, remnants of the group, led by Col. Hassan Rajoub, regrouped and formed the 23rd Division. Since January 2018, the group have participated in the

Turkish military operation in Afrin Operation Olive Branch () was an invasion by the Turkish Armed Forces and Syrian National Army (SNA) in the Kurdish-majority Afrin District of northwest Syria, against the People's Protection Units (YPG) of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). ...

against the YPG-led

Syrian Democratic Forces The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is a Kurds in Syria, Kurdish-led coalition of U.S.-backed Left-wing politics, left-wing ethnic militias and rebel groups, and serves as the official military wing of the Democratic Autonomous Administration ...

in the

Afrin Region Afrin Region (; ; ) was the westernmost of the three original regions of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. The region previously had two subordinate cantons, the Afrin Canton, consisting of the Afrin city area (with the ...

. On 28 February,

Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was a Sunni Islamist political organisation and paramilitary group involved in the Syrian civil war. It was formed on 28January 2017 as a merger between several armed groups: Jaysh al-Ahrar (an Ahrar al-Sham facti ...

besieged the headquarters of the 23rd Division in the village of Qah in the northern

Idlib Governorate Idlib Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Idlib'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in northwestern Syria, bordering Turkey's Hatay province to the north, Aleppo Governorate to the east, Hama Governorate to the sou ...

. After less than an hour of clashes, Tahrir al-Sham fighters captured the headquarter and seized equipment and weapons. In May 2018, along with 10 other rebel groups in northwestern Syria, the 23rd Division formed the

National Front for Liberation National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

, which was officially announced on 28 May. By 2020, most of the 23rd Division's fighters came from Tell Rifaat in the northern Aleppo Governorate. On 8 August 2020, the Levant Front, which accused the 23rd Division of "inciting hatred and strife, abetting infighting, and comprising corrupt officials", stormed the group's headquarters

Azaz Azaz () is a city in northwest Syria, roughly north-northwest of Aleppo. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Azaz had a population of 31,623 at the 2004 census.

and Afrin, taking over the 23rd Division's bases and capturing its leaders and their escorts. The 3rd Legion of the Syrian National Army, led by the Levant Front, then made a court decision ordering the disbandment of the 23rd Division and the transfer of its members who were not arrested during the attack to other groups within the legion. In November of 2023, the 23rd division's Idlib-based branch was announced to be merging with the Free Idlib Army as 60th Infantry Division by the

. At the

Syrian Revolution Victory Conference The Syrian Revolution Victory Conference, officially titled the Conference for Announcing the Victory of the Syrian Revolution (), was held at the Presidential Palace in Damascus, Syria, on 29 January 2025. It was attended by the commanders of v ...

, which was held on 29 January 2025, most factions of the armed opposition, including the Syrian National Army and its components, announced their dissolution and were incorporated into the newly formed Ministry of Defense.

War crimes

According to the

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (also known as SOHR; ), founded in May 2006, is a United Kingdom-based information office whose stated aim is to document human rights abuses in Syria; since 2011 it has focused on the Syrian Civil War. ...

, the 16th Division's Badr Martyrs Brigade, led by Khaled Hayani, was responsible for the deaths of more than 203 civilians, including 42 children, at least 25 women, and 136 men, with more than 900 wounded, 175 of them seriously, in the city of Aleppo between July and December 2014 with hell cannons and other mortars, in addition to

improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional warfare, conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached t ...

References

{{Syrian Civil War Anti-Assad factions of the Syrian civil war Anti-ISIL factions in Syria Free Syrian Army Military units and formations established in 2013 2013 establishments in Syria Military units and formations disestablished in 2016