SDF general headquarters - Gen. Mazlum Kobane (chief commander of the SDF),[1]Rojda Felat (leading operations commander),[2]Sipan Hemo (YPG chief commander),[3]Cihan Shekh Ahmed (spokeswoman),[2] Col. Talal Silo (spokesman),[4] Brig. Gen. Hussam Awak (high-ranking commander)[5][6]
Many other sub-units, led by Murat Amed,[10] Merdali Süleymanovun (alias "Çiya Rûs", killed on 23 April 2017),[11] and various other commanders (of which at least 7 were killed by 14 March 2017)[12]
Manbij Military Council (since 17 April 2017),[51] under the command of Muhammad Mustafa Ali, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Adel, since September 2017.[52][53] The council was previously led by Adnan Abu Amjad until his death on 29 August 2017.[54] The field commander of the council in Raqqa is Dilsuz Hashme.[55]
Field army (organized into infantry, snipers, air defence, special forces, artillery forces, and the army of adversity)[110]
Defences of Al-Thawrah, under command of Abu Saraqeb al-Maghribi[111]
Sub-units in al-Thawrah District, led by various emirs, including Abu Umar al-Almani (killed on 25 March),[112] Abu Zubeyir (killed on 2 April),[113] and a Jordanian, who secretly worked as spy for CJTF–OIR until being extracted by US special forces in April[114]
Defences of Raqqa city; the eastern city was under command of Abu Khattab al-Tunisi until his death on 10 June 2017.[115] At least some of the ISIL holdouts in Raqqa by October 2017 were under the command of a man known as "Abu Osama".[85]
Large number of foreign mujahideen(Chechens, Sudanese, Dagestanis, Moroccans, Algerians, Tunisians, Turks, Saudi Arabians, Georgians, Australians, Azerbaijanis, British)[116][117][118][119]
Defences of al-Fakhikha, under command of a lower-ranking local commander/official, who was arrested by ISIL around 8 January on charges that he might have sold information to the Kurds or CJTF–OIR[120]
Other sub-units, led by Abu Zur al-Tunisi and Bilal al-Shawwash (both deserted to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham around 7 December),[121] Abo Hamza Riadiat (killed on 8 January),[120] and others
External operations networks, led by Abd al-Basit al-Iraqi (killed by an airstrike on 12 November)[128]
Network of Boubaker Al-Hakim ( reported killed by an airstrike on 26 November), including sub-units led by Salah Gourmet, Sammy Djedou, and Walid Hamman (all killed on 4 December)[129][130]
Units responsible for contacts and coordination among ISIL forces, led by Abo Sufian al-Orani until his death on 8 January.[120]
Intelligence and propaganda networks, overseen by Mahmoud al-Isawi until his death on 31 December by an airstrike[135]
Ahmad Abousamra, a leading ISIL propagandist, was killed by an airstrike north of al-Thawrah city in January 2017[136]
Ministry of Information, led by Abu Ahmed al-Souri until he was replaced by Abu Jandal al-Masri around 31 December[111]
These are volunteers who have fully joined the YPG but aren't a part of the YPG International Battalion, and are not members of any other units such as the "International Freedom Battalion" or the "International Anti-Fascist Battalion".
The Ghanim group was forcibly disbanded by the SDF after accusations that they worked with the government. Several members of the group, including Fayad Ghanim, then fled into areas held by the Syrian Army.[33][34]
After the Northern Union declared its loyalty to the Assad government on 20 February, it was destroyed by Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa two days later during SDF infighting.[36]
Abu al-Qasim al-Shammari was reportedly captured by the Raqqa Hawks Brigade during alleged SDF infighting.[44]
It is known that ISIL has used drones during this campaign.[126] ISIL drones are generally operated by the Al Bara’ bin Malik Brigade.[127]
Tonacci, Fabio (29 December 2016). "La brigata degli italiani con i curdi verso Raqqa: "Ma a casa non sanno che qui combattiamo"". la Repubblica (in Italian). Rome. p.8.