The 1st Coastal Division, formerly known as the Brigade of the Chargers (), is a Syrian rebel group that is 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 ...
and has been vetted by the
Friends of Syria Group
The Group of Friends of the Syrian People (sometimes Friends of Syria Group, Friends of the Syrian People Group, Friends of Democratic Syria or simply Friends of Syria) is an international diplomatic collective of countries and bodies convening p ...
. It received
TOW missiles and operates in the Idlib and northern Latakia governorates. The group received training and funding from
Qatar
Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...
. It is a former member of the
Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades
The Ahfad al-Rasul Brigades ( ''Al-wiat Aḥfād ar-Rasūl'', "Grandsons of the Prophet Brigades") was a Syrian rebel group fighting against the Syrian government in the Syrian Civil War. It was funded by the Qatari government.
Structure and ...
.
History
The group participated in the
2014 Latakia offensive
The 2014 Latakia offensive was a rebel offensive in the Latakia Governorate of Syria launched on 21 March 2014 by rebel Islamist groups including Al-Nusra Front, which called the offensive " Anfal", while a coalition of Supreme Military Counci ...
and the
2015 Jisr al-Shughur offensive with a wide array of
Syrian opposition
Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...
forces. As part of the Latakia offensive, the group briefly captured the Mediterranean town of
Kasab, acquiring their name.
1st Coastal Division is famous for including Free Syrian Army
war hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such things for the sake o ...
Abo Hamza who became notable on
social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
for his many skillful
BGM-71 TOW
The BGM-71 TOW ("Tube-launched, Optically tracked, wire-guided missile, Wire-guided", pronounced ) is an American anti-tank missile. TOW replaced much smaller missiles like the SS.10 and ENTAC, offering roughly twice the effective range, a more ...
missile shots.
In October 2015 the 1st Coastal Division's chief of staff, Captain Basil Zamo, was killed in a Russian airstrike on
Jabal al-Akrad, Latakia.
[
In April 2016, the group together with Ahrar al-Sham, ]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 ...
, and the Turkistan Islamic Party
The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) is an Uyghur Islamic extremist organization founded in Pakistan by Hasan Mahsum. Its stated goals are to establish an Islamic state in Xinjiang and Central Asia.
The Chinese government asserts that the T ...
attacked Syrian government positions in northeastern Latakia Governorate
Latakia Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat al-Lādhiqīyah''), also transliterated as Ladhakia, is one of the 14 Governorates of Syria, governorates of Syria. It is situated in northwestern Syria, bordering Turkey's Hatay Province to the no ...
, capturing the villages of Nakshaba, al-Bayyada and 50% of Mount Qamou'.
On 30 June 2017, military commanders of the 21st Combined Force, the 23rd Division, the Central Division, and the 1st Coastal Division signed the Geneva Call's "Deed of Agreement" pledging to protect children in the war, prohibit sexual violence
Sexual violence is any harmful or unwanted Human sexual activity, sexual act, an attempt to obtain a sexual act through violence or coercion, or an act directed against a person's sexuality without their consent, by any individual regardless of ...
, and prevent sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...
.
In May 2018, along with 10 other rebel groups in northwestern Syria, the 1st Coastal Division formed the National Front for Liberation, which was officially announced on 28 May.[
In October of 2019, the NFL merged with 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 ...
, though this merger was done without the prior knowledge of either the SNA NFL’s fighters.
On 11 November 2023, the National Front for Liberation announced that the 1st and 2nd Costal Divisions are being merged into the Costal Division.
See also
*List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
A number of states and armed groups have involved themselves in the Syrian civil war (2011–present) as belligerents. The main groups were Ba'athist Syria and allies, Syrian opposition, the Syrian opposition and allies, Al-Qaeda and affiliate ...
References
External links
1st Coastal Division's YouTube Channel
{{Syrian Civil War
Anti-Assad factions of the Syrian civil war
Free Syrian Army
Military units and formations established in 2014
2014 establishments in Syria