Known Also As: Raed Jassim al-Hayes; Al-Hayes, Raed Jassem; Chakra, Abu Jaafar; Shakra, Abu Jaafar; Shaqra, Abu Ja’far; Abu Jafar;

Citizenship: Syria;

DOB: 1985;

Country: Syria;

Activities:
Raed Jassim al-Hayes (Raed al-Hayes), commonly known as “Abu Ja’afar Shaqra” and a cousin of Ahmad al-Hayes, has been the military commander of Ahrar al-Sharqiya since late 2017.

As a senior figure within the militia, Raed al-Hayes has personally supervised and profited from the militia’s organized theft and sale of equipment from civilian homes and farms.

He also commands former ISIS members, including a former member of an ISIS force known for frequent torture of civilians, who is now a heavy weapons official in Ahrar al-Sharqiya.

Raed al-Hayes is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13894 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Ahrar al-Sharqiya. OFAC is sanctioning Syrian armed group Ahrar al-Sharqiya, which operates in northern Syria, for abuses against civilians.

Syrian armed group Ahrar al-Sharqiya has a record of human rights abuse that includes the unlawful killing of Hevrin Khalaf, a Kurdish politician and Secretary General of the political party Future Syria, as well as her bodyguards in October 2019.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights identified the murders as a possible war crime. Ahrar al-Sharqiya has killed multiple civilians in northeast Syria, including health workers.