{"id":125554,"date":"2025-05-09T09:34:36","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T09:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=125554"},"modified":"2025-05-09T09:34:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T09:34:38","slug":"u-s-slams-syrias-appointment-of-sanctioned-faction-leader-to-commander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/125554\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. slams Syria&#8217;s appointment of sanctioned faction leader to commander"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) \u2013<\/strong> The U.S. State Department strongly criticized on Thursday the Syrian transitional government&#8217;s decision to appoint Ahmad Ihsan Fayad al-Hayes\u2014widely known as Abu Hatem Shaqra\u2014as commander of a Syrian army division, calling the move a \u201cserious mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe interim authority\u2019s decision to appoint this individual, who has a long record of human rights abuses and undermining our defeat-ISIS mission, to an official position is a serious mistake,\u201d State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rudaw.net\/english\/middleeast\/syria\/09052025\">Rudaw Media Network<\/a>. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On May 5, Syria\u2019s Ministry of Defense appointed Abu Hatem Shaqra\u2014who is under U.S. sanctions\u2014to lead the Division 86, which operates in key sectors across the Deir ez-Zor, Hasakah, and Raqqa governorates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shaqra is <a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/news\/press-releases\/jy0292\">sanctioned<\/a> by the United States for his alleged involvement in the killing of Kurdish political leader Hevrin Khalaf, as well as for committing other human rights violations and maintaining ties with the Islamic State (ISIS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A native of the town of Shaqra in the Deir ez-Zor countryside, Abu Hatem Shaqra previously led the \u201cLiberation and Construction Movement,\u201d a faction within the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The movement was formed in 2022 from the merger of four prominent factions, including Ahrar al-Sharqiya, which has also been sanctioned by the U.S. for unlawful killings and other abuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Khalaf Ma\u2019o<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) \u2013 The U.S. State Department strongly criticized on Thursday the Syrian transitional government&#8217;s decision to appoint Ahmad Ihsan Fayad al-Hayes\u2014widely known as Abu Hatem Shaqra\u2014as commander of a Syrian army division, calling the move a \u201cserious mistake.\u201d \u201cThe interim authority\u2019s decision to appoint this individual, who has a long record of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":125555,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39,3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-politics","category-syria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>U.S. slams Syria&#039;s appointment of sanctioned faction leader to commander<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) \u2013 The U.S. State Department strongly criticized on Thursday the Syrian transitional government&#039;s decision to appoint Ahmad\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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