Hussam Awak

Service in the Syrian Armed Forces

Hussam Awak served in the Syrian Arab Air Force and Air Force Intelligence Directorate before 2005. His rank at that time, however, is strongly disputed; he has widely been described as former brigadier general by various news agencies, but his opponents have claimed that Awak has given this rank to himself, and that he had never risen to a particularly high position in the Syrian Armed Forces. The circumstances of his resignation from the Syrian military are equally controversial. Awak has been considered a defector by some, whereas others allege that he was fired "for indecent behaviour" in 2005, and later presented himself as opposition figure out of opportunism.

Syrian Civil War

Awak surfaced as Syrian opposition member in 2012, claiming to serve as commander in the Free Officers Union, which in turn had by then become a Free Syrian Army member. In his position as the Free Officers Union's head of intelligence, he reportedly operated in Syria, the Gulf states and Egypt in an attempt to gain international support for his group and their aims. At the time, he was also critical of US support to some rebel militias in Syria, saying that "the American intelligence — the CIA — should be more selective in choosing opposition figures, and (should not) choose just anyone. They should choose reliable persons." He also accused the Syrian Intelligence agencies and the Lebanese Tawhid Party of being responsible for the abduction of Shibli al-Aysami. When 13 Lebanese pilgrims were abducted by rebels in May 2012, Awak claimed to have contacted the leader of the kidnappers and to try to get the pilgrims released. Awak also condemned the abduction of 21 Filipino UN soldiers in early March 2013 by the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade.

In late 2015, Awak said in an interview with the Sputnik news agency that he had evidence that Turkey bought oil from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Thereafter, numerous pro-opposition sources and rebel leaders claimed that Awak was a fraud who supported Russia and was not connected to the Free Syrian Army in any way. One year later, Awak announced that he had defected from the FSA to the Syrian Democratic Forces, along with the Free Officers Union which reportedly had over one hundred members at the time. He said that the reason for his defection was that the FSA had reduced itself to the proxy of foreign powers, particularly Turkey. Furthermore, he blamed the FSA for terrorist actions against civilians. Since then, he serves as SDF brigadier general, and has praised the "YPG and YPJ [as] the sun that shone on the region with their outgoing mentality and their good behavior", while also saying that he supports the federalization of Syria. Furthermore, Awak became involved in the campaign to capture Raqqa from ISIL. In May 2017, he led the negotiations with Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa to get them to join the Raqqa campaign. After promising the unit's leadership "that its role [in post-conquest Raqqa] will be essential", the group agreed to return to the frontlines.