The Ministry of Defense in the transitional Damascus government has appointed military leader Mohammed al-Jassem (Abu Amsha) as the commander of the Hama military brigade in the Syrian army that is to be formed.
A special source in the Damascus government (who requested anonymity) told Enab Baladi that the ministry appointed Mohammed al-Jassem as the commander of the Hama Brigade, which is stationed in the same location previously occupied by the 25th Brigade in the former Syrian regime’s forces.
There are no additional clarifications regarding the Hama Brigade, its formation mechanism, or its missions.
The 25th Brigade was affiliated with the former Syrian regime and supported by Russia, led by Major General Suhail al-Hassan. In April 2024, military news accounts reported that the Syrian regime had appointed Suhail al-Hassan as the commander of the Special Forces.
The appointment of “Abu Amsha” comes as the Ministry of Defense continues its efforts to integrate factions under its umbrella as individuals rather than groups, amid moves from Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra, who has held various military meetings and received separate statements from factions and military groups expressing their readiness to engage in the ministry’s structure.
Abu Qasra stated in an interview that the ministry’s priority is to transfer the status of factions or military units throughout Syrian territory to the Ministry of Defense, emphasizing that armed factions have not been asked to surrender their weapons, but to integrate into the Syrian Ministry of Defense through an institutional and legal mechanism, noting the factions’ responsiveness.
He mentioned that the cancellation of mandatory conscription was intended to rebuild trust between the army and the people, and that the settlement centers for elements of Assad’s regime do not negate the subsequent legal accountability but rather stabilize the status quo to ensure that chaos does not spread.
The military leader Mohammed al-Jassem (Abu Amsha) during the conference declaring the victory of the Syrian revolution – January 29, 2025 (Military Operations Administration)
Who is “Abu Amsha”?
Before his appointment, Mohammed al-Jassem led the Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade, locally known as “al-Amshat,” and is considered one of the prominent leaders close to Turkey. His faction’s activities focused in the city of Afrin in northern Aleppo.
“Abu Amsha” was born in 1987 and hails from the village of Jawsah in the Hama countryside. He worked as a driver of agricultural tractors and harvesters before the outbreak of the Syrian revolution.
With the beginning of the armed uprising, he formed a group comprising a few fighters under the name “Fire Line Group,” which later joined the “Martyrs of Hiyalin Brigade.”
In 2013, it separated from the brigade it previously joined, and its fighters began working within the ranks of the Syria Revolutionaries Front, which was led by Jamal Ma’arouf at the time, according to a close source to “Abu Amsha,” who requested to remain anonymous for security reasons.
With Turkey announcing the start of the Olive Branch Operation (in Afrin) in 2018, he joined the Sultan Murad Brigade as a group commander and remained there until he formed the Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade, which later joined the Syrian National Army (SNA).
In recent years, accusations have been directed at “Abu Amsha” and his faction, including extortion, kidnapping, arms trafficking, drug trade, land seizure, sharing the local harvests with people, and multiple human rights violations, including cases of rape and false accusations requiring payments for acquittals.
The Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) organization revealed that “Abu Amsha” achieves an annual income exceeding $30 million from various “illegal” avenues.
On August 17, 2023, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Sultan Suleiman Shah Brigade, its leader Mohammed al-Jassem (Abu Amsha), his brother Walid al-Jassem, and the Hamza Brigade (al-Hamzat) and its leader Saif Bolad (Abu Bakr).