Aleppo offensive (July 2015) | |||||||||
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Part of the Battle of Aleppo and the Syrian Civil War | |||||||||
Situation in Aleppo city as of July 2015 Syrian Army control Opposition control Kurdish control Islamic State in Iraq & Levant Ongoing confrontation or unclear situation | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
| Ba'ath Brigades [6] | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
67 killed [7] [8] | 55 killed [8] [9] [10] |
The Aleppo offensive (July 2015) was a military operation launched by two rebel coalitions against the Syrian Army, during the Syrian Civil War, in the city of Aleppo. The aim of the operation was to breach Army defenses and enter, and potentially take, the government-held western half of the city.
On 2 July, the major offensive was launched by two rebel coalitions, Fatah Halab and Ansar Sharia, the latter of which includes the Al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, [11] with fighting focusing on the Jamiyat al-Zahra frontline. [12] By the next day, the rebels seized some buildings in Jamiyat al-Zahra, but the advance was of no strategic importance and came at a cost of heavy casualties, with 35 rebels being killed amidst heavy air-strikes.[ citation needed ] At least 18 soldiers were killed in the fighting. [9] In the evening, government troops managed to recapture the areas they lost. [1]
On 4 July, the Fatah Halab managed to seize the Scientific Research Center on Aleppo's western outskirts, thus overcoming the first major government fortification and potentially threatening government-held areas of Aleppo. [1] [13] Later during the day, government fighters launched a counter-attack against the Scientific Research Center, [1] [14] and managed to enter the eastern outskirts of the Center but were forced to retreat outside the complex's walls after heavy shelling. [15] 12 more rebels and 12 soldiers were killed in the clashes. [7] [10] As of 5 July, the attack on Jamiyat al-Zahra had largely failed, while the military was still attempting to recapture the Center. [16]
On the evening of 6 July, a suicide bomber hit government positions in Jamiyat al-Zahra, leaving 25 government fighters dead. The ensuing fighting also left 19 rebels dead and opposition activists claimed rebel forces managed to capture several buildings. Fighting also continued at the Center. [8]
By 7 July, the renewed rebel attack on al-Zahra had been repelled, while the military reportedly used chlorine gas in an attempt to regain control of the Scientific Research Center. The opposition activist group the SOHR reported there were no casualties among the rebels since most of them were wearing gas masks. [17]
Jund al-Aqsa, later known as Liwa al-Aqsa after 7 February 2017, was a Salafist jihadist organization that was active during the Syrian Civil War. Formerly known as Sarayat al-Quds, the group was founded by Abu Abdul 'Aziz al-Qatari as a subunit within the al-Nusra Front. The group later became independent, because al-Nusra was growing too rapidly for its resources and had suffered from fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. On 20 September 2016 the U.S. Department of State designated Jund al-Aqsa as a terrorist organization. The group rejoined al-Nusra Front, by then renamed Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), in October 2016. However, on 23 January 2017, JFS declared that Jund Al-Aqsa was no longer part of Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham. In early February 2017, some of Jund al-Aqsa's units joined the newly formed Tahrir al-Sham, while the others refused and formed a new splinter group called Liwa al-Aqsa, and captured many towns in northern Hama and southern Idlib from other rebel groups. Following these attacks, Tahrir al-Sham launched a military operation against Liwa al-Aqsa, accusing them of being an ISIL affiliate. Following intense clashes with Tahrir al-Sham, up to 2,100 Liwa al-Aqsa militants left Idlib Province to join ISIL in Raqqa Province, by 22 February 2017.
The al-Nusra Front–SRF/Hazzm Movement conflict started in late October 2014, during the Syrian Civil War, in Idlib and Aleppo governorates, during which al-Nusra attempted to establish an Islamic state rival to that of ISIL. Despite this, the al-Nusra Front and Free Syrian Army factions continued to cooperate in the southern Syrian governorates of Quneitra and Daraa.
A timeline of combat operations during the Battle of Aleppo throughout the year 2015.
Operation Rainbow was an operation launched by the Syrian Army, supported by Hezbollah and other allied militias, during the Syrian Civil War, following a successful operation which led to the military encircling Aleppo from the east side and reaching the city's northern approach. The aim of the operation, as the previous one, was to encircle Aleppo and cut rebel supply lines into the city, thus besieging rebel-held areas.
The Army of Conquest or Jaish al-Fatah, abbreviated JaF, was a joint command center of Sunni Islamist Syrian rebel factions participating in the Syrian Civil War.
The siege of Nubl and al-Zahraa during the Syrian civil war was laid by rebels to capture two Syrian government-held towns north of Aleppo, after they had seized most of the northern countryside in July 2012. The siege was lifted on 3 February 2016, as a result of a Syrian government offensive.
The northwestern Syria offensive , dubbed by the rebels as the Battle of Victory, took place in the Idlib and Hama governorates during the Syrian Civil War.
The Qalamoun offensive was an offensive led by the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah, supported by the Syrian Army, during the Syrian Civil War, against the al-Nusra Front and other Syrian opposition forces entrenched in the mountains of the Qalamoun region.
The Western al-Hasakah offensive, dubbed Operation Commander Rûbar Qamishlo by the Kurds, was a military operation during May 2015 in the Al-Hasakah Governorate, during the Syrian Civil War, conducted by Kurdish YPG and allied forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. On 31 May 2015, as most of the offensive operations in the western Al-Hasakah Governorate ended, the part of the offensive in the Ras al-Ayn District expanded into the Tell Abyad region, in the northern Raqqa Governorate.
The Tell Abyad offensive or Martyr Rubar Qamışlo operation was a military operation that began in late May 2015 in the northern Raqqa Governorate, during the Syrian Civil War. It was conducted by the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The offensive took place from the end of May until July 2015. The campaign was the second phase of the Kurdish Operation Commander Rûbar Qamishlo, which began with the Al-Hasakah offensive, and involved the merger of the Kobanî offensive with the former. The focus of the campaign was to capture the key border town of Tell Abyad, and to link the Kobanî and Jazira Cantons in Northern Syria.
The Quneitra offensive was launched by Syrian rebel forces, during the Syrian Civil War, in order to capture the last government-held positions in Quneitra Governorate: Hader, Madinat al-Baath, Khan Arnabah and the strategic hill of Tell Krum. The other objective was connecting southern rebel-held parts of Syria with Western Ghouta.
Ansar al-Sharia was a joint operations room of Sunni Islamist and Salafist rebel factions that operate in Aleppo, Syria. Its stated aim is seizing the city of Aleppo from the Syrian government in order to administer the city under Sharia law on the basis of a joint charter.
Fatah Halab, or Aleppo Conquest, was a joint operations room of Syrian rebel factions operating in and around Aleppo, Syria. Succeeding the Aleppo Liberation operations room, its establishment was announced on 26 April 2015. It stated that its aim was to conquer Aleppo City from Syrian government forces.
The Battle of Zabadani (2015) started in early July 2015, during the Syrian Civil War, as a military offensive launched by the Syrian Army, and Hezbollah to capture the rebel-held town of Al-Zabadani.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to July 2015. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The siege of al-Fu'ah and Kefriya was a siege of the towns of al-Fu'ah and Kafriya in the Idlib Governorate, towns with majority Shia populations and controlled by the Syrian government during the Syrian civil war. The siege began with a Sunni Islamist rebel assault on the capital of the province in March 2015, resulting in the capture of Idlib. On 18 July 2018, the besieged government forces reached an agreement with Tahrir al-Sham-led rebels to evacuate them and civilians from the two towns.
The 2016 Southern Aleppo campaign was a series of military operations that started on 1 April when the Islamist rebel coalition Army of Conquest, led by the al-Nusra Front, launched a surprise offensive south of Aleppo. The main objective of the operation was to recapture territory they had lost during the large-scale government offensive in late 2015.
The Aleppo offensive refers to a military operation launched on the northern outskirts of Aleppo in late June 2016, by the Syrian Army. The aim of the offensive was to cut the last rebel supply line into Aleppo city.
The Rouse the Believers Operations Room was a coalition of Salafist jihadist insurgent groups in northwestern Syria during the Syrian Civil War.