Shabiha is a term for state sponsored militias of the Syrian government loyal to Assad family. The mercenaries consist exclusively of Alawite men paid by the regime to eliminate figures of its domestic opposition and alleged fifth-columnists. Shabiha were established in the 1980s to smuggle weapons to the Syrian soldiers stationed in Lebanon during the Syrian occupation of Lebanon.
The siege of Homs was a military confrontation between the Syrian military and the Syrian opposition in the city of Homs, a major rebel stronghold during the Syrian Civil War. The siege lasted three years from May 2011 to May 2014, and ultimately resulted in an opposition withdrawal from the city.
The 2011–2013 Daraa Governorate clashes are a series of military confrontations between the Syrian Army and the Free Syrian Army in Daraa Governorate, Syria, which began in November 2011, after widescale protests and crackdown on protesters in Daraa had lasted since April 2011. The clashes had been ongoing as part of the Syrian civil war, until the U.N. brokered cease fire came into effect on 14 April 2012. Sporadic clashes continued since then, however.
The Rif Dimashq clashes were a series of unrests and armed clashes in and around Damascus, the capital of Syria, from November 2011 until a stalemate in March 2012. The violence was part of the wider early insurgency phase of the Syrian civil war. Large pro-government and anti-government protests took place in the suburbs and center of Damascus, with the situation escalating when members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) started attacking military targets in November.
The September 2011 – March 2012 Idlib Governorate clashes were the violent incidents that took place in Idlib Governorate, a province of Syria, from September 2011 and prior to the April 2012 Idlib Governorate Operation.
The Jabal al-Zawiya massacres took place on 19–20 December 2011, in the Idlib province of Syria during the 2011-2012 Idlib Governorate clashes between the Syrian Army and opposition forces, within the larger scope of the 2011-2012 Syrian uprising. Human rights and opposition activists said that some 200 people were killed by Syrian security forces in the hills and villages of the north-western province of Idlib on 19 and 20 December 2011. The Syrian state news agency claimed that 1 terrorist was killed and several more wounded.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from May to August 2012. The majority of death tolls reported for each day comes from the Local Coordination Committees, an opposition activist group based in Syria, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another opposition group based in London.
The Houla massacre was a mass murder of civilians by Syrian government forces that took place on May 25, 2012, in the midst of the Syrian Civil War, in the town of Taldou, in the Houla Region of Syria, a string of towns northwest of Homs. According to the United Nations, 108 people were killed, including 34 women and 49 children. While a small proportion of the deaths appeared to have resulted from artillery and tank rounds used against Taldou, the U.N. later announced that most of the massacre's victims had been "summarily executed in two separate incidents". UN investigators have reported that some witnesses and survivors stated that the massacre was committed by pro-government Shabiha. In August 2012 UN investigators released a report which stated that it was likely that Syrian troops and Shabiha militia were responsible for the massacre, concluding that: "On the basis of available evidence, the commission has a reasonable basis to believe that the perpetrators of the deliberate killing of civilians, at both the Abdulrazzak and Al-Sayed family locations, were aligned to the Government. It rests this conclusion on its understanding of access to the crime sites, the loyalties of the victims, the security layout in the area including the position of the government’s water authority checkpoint and the consistent testimonies of victims and witnesses with direct knowledge of the events. This conclusion is bolstered by the lack of credible information supporting other possibilities."
The Battle of Tremseh was a military confrontation between the Syrian Army and the Free Syrian Army in Tremseh, Syria, in the late hours of 12 July 2012 during the Syrian Civil War leading to the reported death of dozens of rebels, and an unknown number of civilians. On 14 July 2012, the UN observer mission issued a statement, based on the investigation by its team that went to the town, that the Syrian military mainly targeted the homes of rebels and activists, in what the BBC said was a contradiction of the initial opposition claims of a civilian massacre. They said that the number of casualties was unclear and added that they intend to return to the town to continue their investigation.
The Battle of Damascus, also known as Operation Damascus Volcano, started on 15 July 2012 during the Syrian civil war. It is unclear who started the battle. Thousands of rebels infiltrated Damascus from the surrounding countryside. Following this, according to some reports, the opposition forces launched an operation to capture the capital, while according to other reports, the military learned of the large-scale rebel operation beforehand and made a preemptive strike. Some reports even suggested the rebels launched the operation prematurely due to their plans being discovered by the security forces.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from September to December 2012. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The Rif Dimashq offensive refers to a rebel offensive during the Syrian Civil War in the Rif Dimashq Governorate which started in November 2012, and a subsequent attempted Syrian Army counterattack in January 2013. Thomson Reuters described rebels as "ramping up attacks on Damascus" in late November and BBC News described the 29 November government counterattack as "an unprecedented offensive against rebel-held districts in the east of the city".
Aqrab is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located southwest of Hama. Nearby localities include Nisaf and Baarin to the west, Awj to the southwest, Qarmas to the south, Taldou and Houla to the southeast, Talaf and the subdistrict (nahiyah) center Hirbnafsah to the east, Bisin and Jidrin to the northeast and al-Bayyadiyah to the northwest.
The 2012 Hama offensive was a military operation during the Syrian Civil War launched by the Syrian opposition on 16 December 2012, with the intent of taking control of the Hama Province. The offensive was stopped after the Syrian Army launched a counter-offensive, leaving the rebels in control of only half a dozen towns and villages in the north of the province.
The 2013 Hama offensive was a military operation launched by Syrian rebels during the Syrian Civil War in the eastern part of the province of Hama, in an attempt to open up a new front, after rebel attacks in the governorate had stalled. The rebels managed to capture 10 villages during their offensive. However, the Army soon retaliated and reversed all of the rebels gains, as well as capturing the town of Halfaya, which the rebels captured during their previous offensive, five months earlier.
The second of two battles in al-Qusayr started on 19 May 2013, as part of the larger al-Qusayr offensive, launched in early April 2013 by the Syrian Army and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, during the Syrian civil war, with the aim of capturing the villages around the rebel-held town of al-Qusayr and ultimately launching an attack on the town itself. The region was strategically important as a supply route for rebels fighting Syrian government forces in Homs and also for the Syrian government, as it lies between the capital, Damascus, and the Syrian coast, a stronghold for Assad supporters.
The 2013 Latakia offensive was a campaign during the Syrian Civil War launched by rebel groups led by Salafi jihadists in the Latakia Governorate. The stated aim of the offensive was to conquer al-Haffah city, but government supporters assumed conquering Mount Nabi Younes was more likely the real aim. A calculated side effect may have been to spark more sectarian violence in Syria by carrying out a sectarian attack on an Alawite-majority area. The offensive began in early August 2013. During the campaign, rebel forces captured a dozen villages. However, in mid-August, the military counter-attacked and recaptured all of the territory previously lost to the rebels.
Ahmed Berri is the Chief of Staff of the Free Syrian Army. Berri was appointed to the position of Chief of Staff in October 2014, taking over from Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir. In December 2014, he was replaced by Brigadier General Abdelkarim al-Ahmed. In July 2015, after a dispute with the Supreme Military Council, the Syrian National Coalition instructed Berri to return as head of the FSA General Staff. However, his position is not recognised by the Supreme Military Council.
