Early role in the civil war Sayf Bulad is an ethnic
Syrian Turkmen from
Bizaah,
Aleppo Governorate. According to the news site
El-Dorar, he was originally a First Lieutenant in the
Syrian Army and defected to the
opposition when the
Syrian civil war erupted.
TRT World reported that he was an officer in the
Air Force Intelligence Directorate for 7 years until he defected in 2011. Later in 2012, he had become a "gunman" serving in the Islamist
al-Tawhid Brigade, taking part in the
Battle of Aleppo. By spring 2013, he fought as part of the
Free Syrian Army in operations around
Kuweires Military Aviation Institute. As overall commander, Sayf Bulad organized a "special forces" elite unit within the Hamza Division. He was also promoted to brigadier general, The affair surrounding his brother caused considerable local opposition against the Hamza Division and Sayf Bulad, as he had personally appointed Hamad to run al-Bab's administration. In spite of the scandal, Sayf was able to maintain his position thanks to Turkish support. Sayf Bulad later fought against the SDF in
Operation Olive Branch, assisting in the conquest of the
PYD-governed
Afrin Canton. In 2020, he helped to recruit 500 Hamza Division fighters who allegedly served in the
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, fighting for Azerbaijan against Armenia. Bulad and the Hamza Division were sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury's
Office of Foreign Assets Control in August 2023 over human rights violations.
Post-Assad era In March 2025, the
Syrian Defense Ministry, under the new government of
Ahmed al-Sharaa, made Sayf Bulad the commander of the newly established
76th Division of the
Syrian Armed Forces. On 19 December 2025, he was sanctioned by the
United Kingdom for his involvement in the March 2025 clashes and "historic violence committed during the Syrian Civil War". == See also ==