Syrian army equipment and vehicles abandoned on the motorway to Damascus, near Suran, north of Hama. AFP
Syrian army equipment and vehicles abandoned on the motorway to Damascus, near Suran, north of Hama. AFP
Syrian army equipment and vehicles abandoned on the motorway to Damascus, near Suran, north of Hama. AFP
Syrian army equipment and vehicles abandoned on the motorway to Damascus, near Suran, north of Hama. AFP

Syria's elite Tiger Forces fail to stem rebel advance in Hama


Robert Tollast
  • English
  • Arabic

Syrian government forces said they had withdrawn from Hama on Thursday, a strategic city with supply lines to loyalist coastal strongholds. In any attempt to retake the city, one army unit could be critical for the decisive battle: the Tiger Forces, whose members mostly hail from the governorate of the same name.

The unit, often called an elite military formation, is in fact mainly composed of local militias with a core of at least 4,000 fighters linked to the feared Syrian air force intelligence, formerly headed by Jamil Al Hasan, according to researcher Gregory Waters.

Al Hasan is wanted by France and Germany over the alleged murder of civilians, including dual-citizens, in Syria’s civil war, and has been sanctioned by the US and EU.

"The tiger forces are supposed to be elite forces. But really, to Syrians, they're just known as brutal and quite cruel forces," says Natasha Hall, an expert on Syria and Senior Fellow at Center for Strategic and International Studies.

During the worst periods of fighting, the unit – designated the 25th Special Missions Division in 2019 – was used as a “fire brigade” outfit, moving rapidly from crisis to crisis as the government was assailed by a number of localised uprisings.

Those occurred first under the banner of the Free Syrian Army in the summer of 2011 and then a mix of competing and increasingly extreme groups, edging out secular opposition, later including ISIS and Jabhat Al Nusra. The latter group, formerly linked to Al Qaeda, is designated a terror organisation by the EU and US, but has attempted to agressively rebrand as a moderate force.

The uprising was sparked by government crackdowns that included the Tiger Forces, which according to the Global Public Policy Institute, a think tank, were “credited with pioneering the use of barrel bombs in the early years of the war”, improvised explosive devices rolled out of helicopters to devastate districts in towns such as Deraa.

According to Mr Waters, who has closely tracked the evolution of the force, its members are recruited mostly from Hama, and while most are from Syria’s Alawite minority, the kin of President Bashar Al Assad, it has small numbers of Christian, Ismaili Shiites and Sunni recruits.

But it is far from representative of the population, Ms Hall says. She explains that the unit has joined the ranks of much of the Syrian army, which has collapsed into countless militias, with groups such as the Shabiha, now the National Defence Forces, often paid by looting or other criminal activities.

"The Syrian Arab Army has been hollowed out since I would say 2012, there is mandatory conscription. So most men, aside from those who are only children, have been in the military in some capacity in their life, but there were mass defections early on."

"So it took some time for the Syrian military, the regime, to recuperate. What they did, as other regimes have done in the past, like Sudan with Janjaweed, is essentially rounded up militias and thugs to create new forces."

Oded Berkowitz, an expert on militia tactics in Middle East conflict, says the rapid withdrawal by government forces in Hama is an attempt to concentrate defences.

"Being able to consolidate a defensive line with depth and reserves that are now closer will negate one of the rebels’ primary advantages in manoeuvre, which was surprise. The initial surprise of the rapid advance is now gone," he said.

He does not rule out a complete collapse of the Syrian army in Hama, however, and says the next critical battle could be around Homs, which he envisages as a possible Aleppo-style siege.

The local base of support for the Tiger Forces, combined with what analysts say is a close working relationship with Russian advisers, means its performance in the battle of Hama is a litmus test of how Damascus will weather the latest uprising. According to security researcher Nicole Grajewski, the unit has also been given T-90 tanks, Russia’s premier export armoured vehicle.

An anti-government fighter remotely fires rockets on regime forces, in the northern outskirts of Hama. AFP
An anti-government fighter remotely fires rockets on regime forces, in the northern outskirts of Hama. AFP

So far, things are not looking positive for the formation, having lost its headquarters in Aleppo in the Hayat Tahir Al Sham-led offensive last week, and now losing the city of Hama. The unit does not appear to have fought significant battles in Aleppo, where the 30th Division crumbled quickly.

Along with the Tiger Forces, another unit that has worked closely with Russia is the Fifth Corps, a formation put together at the height of the civil war in 2016, with many “reconciled” former rebels from Deraa governorate. It has taken part in offensives before in Idlib, but in the latest round of fighting appears to have abandoned a large number of tanks, according to open-source analysis by Oryx, a team of researchers tracking losses in conflict, which responded to a question from The National.

The Third Corps, which fought in Lebanon against Israel in the 1980s and had its 47th Armoured Brigade bombed by Israeli jets last month, is also partially garrisoned in Hama. All of these units possess various Soviet-era tanks, scores of which have been seen abandoned in videos on social media on roads between Aleppo and Hama, according to Oryx.

Finally, the Fourth Division, a unit accused by the US of links to drug-smuggling and militias has also been thrown into the fray. But these units cannot be thought of in the conventional military sense, where a division has a standardised number of platoons, companies, battalions and regiments, a pyramid structure that goes up to the roughly 10,000-20,000 soldier division.

"This is not like an army in the traditional military sense, at one point they probably were," says Ms Hall, before the gradual collapse of Syria's military and economic power, which led to widespread disorganisation in the army.

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Name: Kumulus Water
 
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Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
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Sector: Water technology 
 
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Director: Jafar Panahi

Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr

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Tailors and retailers miss out on back-to-school rush

Tailors and retailers across the city said it was an ominous start to what is usually a busy season for sales.
With many parents opting to continue home learning for their children, the usual rush to buy school uniforms was muted this year.
“So far we have taken about 70 to 80 orders for items like shirts and trousers,” said Vikram Attrai, manager at Stallion Bespoke Tailors in Dubai.
“Last year in the same period we had about 200 orders and lots of demand.
“We custom fit uniform pieces and use materials such as cotton, wool and cashmere.
“Depending on size, a white shirt with logo is priced at about Dh100 to Dh150 and shorts, trousers, skirts and dresses cost between Dh150 to Dh250 a piece.”

A spokesman for Threads, a uniform shop based in Times Square Centre Dubai, said customer footfall had slowed down dramatically over the past few months.

“Now parents have the option to keep children doing online learning they don’t need uniforms so it has quietened down.”

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Rating: 4.5/5

White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogenChromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxideUltramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica contentOphiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on landOlivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour

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Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu

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Marathon results

Men:

 1. Titus Ekiru(KEN) 2:06:13 

2. Alphonce Simbu(TAN) 2:07:50 

3. Reuben Kipyego(KEN) 2:08:25 

4. Abel Kirui(KEN) 2:08:46 

5. Felix Kemutai(KEN) 2:10:48  

Women:

1. Judith Korir(KEN) 2:22:30 

2. Eunice Chumba(BHR) 2:26:01 

3. Immaculate Chemutai(UGA) 2:28:30 

4. Abebech Bekele(ETH) 2:29:43 

5. Aleksandra Morozova(RUS) 2:33:01  

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The specs: 2019 BMW X4

Price, base / as tested: Dh276,675 / Dh346,800

Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder

Transmission: Eight-speed automatic

Power: 354hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque: 500Nm @ 1,550rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 9.0L / 100km

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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

 

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:

Ajax 2-3 Tottenham

Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate

Final: June 1, Madrid

Updated: December 06, 2024, 5:54 AM