Since February 2016, the group suffered a series of internal splits. On 27 February, a number of its fighters defected from the group, accusing it of corruption, "betraying the blood of martyrs", "serving personal interests", "unmatched selfishness", and "forgetting the goals of the real revolution". They also accused leaders of the group of being affiliated with Kurdish parties "unpatriotic toward the Syrian Revolution", marginalizing "free Kurdish fighters" and replacing them with "paid mercenaries", and "political coordination" with the SDF's Army of Revolutionaries.[19] In March, Mohammed Hawash, the group's military commander, defected after he accused the group of collaborating with the Kurdish National Council.