Coastal Shield Brigade
Assadist militant group founded in 2015
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Coastal Shield Brigade (Arabic: لواء درع الساحل, romanized: Liwāʼ Dirʻ al-Sāḥil) is a Syrian Assadist militant organization formed in January 2015. The brigade resumed operations in February 2025, after the fall of the Assad regime.
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Syria
Ba'athist Syria
National Defence Forces[4]| Coastal Shield Brigade | |
|---|---|
| لواء درع الساحل | |
Coastal Shield Brigade logo depicting the Hawk of Quraish | |
| Founding leader | Miqdad Fatiha and Hassan Fatiha[1] |
| Founded | 1 January 2015 (within the Syrian Arab Army)[2] 6 February 2025 (as an insurgent cell)[3] |
| Country | Syria |
| Allegiance | Ba'athist Syria National Defence Forces[4] |
| Ideology | Assadism[5] |
| Wars | |
History
The group was officially founded on 1 January 2015, in Latakia province as a local militia for Republican Guard. The group started recruitment of soldiers in late May of the same year.[2]
In 2025, after the fall of the Assad regime, the group published a video showing its establishment against the Military Operations Command and the Syrian Transitional Government[clarification needed] which was spread by the Syrian Popular Resistance.[7][8] They established the Coastal Brigade near the Latakia Mountains in the Latakia Governorate to fight against Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in their original stronghold. He also called for Alawites and previous supporters of Bashar al-Assad to "take arms" against HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.[9] Fatiha stated in the video about the Coastal Shield Brigade's establishment to the escalation of violations by Ahmad al-Sharaa's authority[clarification needed] after the attacks on the Alawites in the cities of the Syrian coast, stressing the brigade's responsibility for any targeting of al-Sharaa's authority on the coast and outside the Syrian coast.[10][11]
Fatiha stated the Coastal Shield Brigade would take responsibility for any operations done against Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham in the Latakia Governorate.[12] According to Turkish media, Fatiha was notorious for his alleged involvement in drug trafficking, bribery, kidnapping and extrajudicial killings during the Assad regime.[13] Fatiha likely used resources and human networks developed under the Assad regime to establish the Coastal Shield Brigade.[3]