ALEPPO, Syria — When I first met Nidal a few years ago, he was an amiable and unassuming guy. He worked afternoons at a private company to make ends meet, just like most chronically underpaid civil servants in Syria. There was nothing exceptional or extraordinary about him; he was just another casual acquaintance. Fast forward to today, what a remarkable difference a few years and a civil war can make. Sitting across from me in a trendy café in west Aleppo in May, he told me of his rise to prominent commander in the Baath Brigades and boasted of his exploits, battles and victories.

The Baath Brigades are basically a militia of loyal Baath Party members, an all-volunteer force. They were set up in Aleppo a short time after the rebels stormed the city and took most of the eastern half. They were initially deployed to guard government buildings and vital installations, but their role would become more prominent as their numbers and strength grew.

They gained notoriety as their string of successes in several key contested areas overshadowed that of regular army units. Their effectiveness in battle owes as much to their training, overseen by officers from the elite Republican Guard, as to their ideology. Technically, they’re still a civilian militia, largely made up of the Baath Party faithful who believe strongly in the doctrine of their party and feel they are fighting for their country against foreign and domestic terrorists — hypernationalists, if you will.

It is this conviction and motivation that gives them an edge over the regular army units, especially those made up mostly of conscripts. This is why they‘ve been used to spearhead many offensives into rebel-controlled areas, including the old city, Layramoun, Sheikh Saeed, Sheikh Maksud and Salah el Deen.