A Promotion Stained with Blood: Abu Hatam Shaqra’s Rise Reopens Kurdish Wounds - The Syrian Observer

A Promotion Stained with Blood: Abu Hatam Shaqra’s Rise Reopens Kurdish Wounds - The Syrian Observer

In a move that has sent shockwaves across Syria and reopened some of the bloodiest chapters of its civil conflict, the Syrian Army has appointed Ahmad al-Hayes—better known by his nom de guerre Abu Hatam Shaqra—as a brigadier general and commander of the newly formed 86th Division. Hayes, a militia leader long affiliated with Turkish-backed opposition groups, formerly led the notorious faction Ahrar al-Sharqiya. This controversial promotion come…