When the group joined the campaign to capture Raqqa in November 2016, it had around 1,000 fighters and was expected to be a "key component of the fight for the city". The Raqqa Hawks Brigade possesses several technicals and gun trucks, the latter of which were mostly captured from ISIL. In mid-November, the Raqqa Hawks Brigade took part in the several days-long battle for Tal Saman, the ISIL headquarters in the northern Raqqa countryside.