Hussam al-Din Awak is a former officer in the Syrian Armed Forces who reportedly became a Free Syrian Army commander upon the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. After claiming in 2015 that Turkey had cooperated with Islamic State (IS), Awak was denounced by Syrian opposition figures as a fraud and liar. In 2016, Awak joined the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alongside his unit, the Free Officers Union. He eventually resigned from the SDF and the Syrian Democratic Council in December 2017.