2013 Hama offensive

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2013 Hama offensive
Part of the Syrian civil war
2013 Hama Offensive.svg
Frontlines in Hama Governorate during the offensive.
  Syrian Government control
  Opposition control
  Contested
For a war map of the current situation in Hama, see here.
Date25 April 2013 – 15 June 2013
(1 month and 3 weeks)
Location
Result

Syrian Army victory [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

  • Rebels temporarily capture 10 villages, including four Alawite ones [7]
  • Syrian Army captures Halfaya and 20–23 other villages, including most of the ones previously captured by the rebels [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Belligerents

Syrian National Coalition

Flag of the Al-Nusra Front (Variant).svg al-Nusra Front

Flag of Syria.svg Syrian Arab Republic

Commanders and leaders

Syrian revolution flag.svg Kassem Saadeddin [8]
Flag of the Knights of Justice Brigade.svg Fares Bayoush

Flag of the Al-Nusra Front (Variant).svg Abu Usamah al-Maghrebi
Unknown
Units involved
Unknown 17th Mechanized Division(Reserve)
Strength
8,000 fighters 2,300 soldiers
1,000 militia

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. [7] 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.

Contents

Offensive

Opening rebel attacks

Situation in Hama city mid-March 2013 Hama (March 15 2013).svg
Situation in Hama city mid-March 2013

On 25 April, rebel forces launched an attack in Hama city, where heavy clashes erupted for the first time in months as rebels tried to relieve pressure on their forces under attack from government troops elsewhere in the country. [9] The next day, clashes occurred in the neighborhood of Tariq Halab between the Army and the rebels. Video footage emerged of several soldiers being burned alive in an armored vehicle. [10]

Army captures Halfaya and rebels advance

On 10 May, a cease-fire agreement between government and rebel forces in Halfaya broke down. Heavy shelling of the town started in which 25 people were reportedly killed. [11] Government forces tightened the siege on Halfaya and the town of Aqrab, shutting down communications in the area. The shelling of Halfaya and Aqrab was seen as preparation to storm the towns. [12]

On 17 May, rebels captured four Alawite villages in the eastern part of Hama province. The villages were abandoned by its residents days before the rebels arrived. The villages in question were Tulaysiyah, Zoghbe, Shaata and Balil. Their takeover followed several weeks of fighting after which the Army withdrew from the area. [13]

On 19 May, the Syrian Army took control of Halfaya after rebel forces retreated from the town. The takeover was reportedly followed with the burning of homes by government troops [14] and the execution of 15 people by pro-government militias, according to the opposition. [15]

On 23 May, rebels reportedly took control of three more villages in the eastern part of the province. [16]

On 24 May, government forces raided the town of Ma'arzaf, [17] and two days later captured the village of Rihya. [18]

Army counter-attack

On 1 June, after heavy fighting, the Syrian Army recaptured the two Alawite villages of Tulaysiyah and Janineh [19] [20] and on 2 June they recaptured the Alawite village of Zoghbe, after the withdrawal of rebel forces, according to SOHR. [21]

By 3 June, the Army had captured 13 villages in Hama province during their offensive, including the ones captured by the rebels earlier in the operation, according to state TV and SOHR. [2] [22]

According to the Syrian news agency SANA, by 10 June, the Syrian military captured six more villages in eastern Hama. [4] Three days later, the capture of three of those six villages, as well as one other, was confirmed by SOHR. [3]

At dawn on 13 June, rebels seized an Army position on the northern edge of the town of Morek, in fighting that killed six soldiers and two rebels. Later in the day, the Army shelled the base and sent reinforcements in an attempt to recapture the post. [23] [24] [25]

On 14 June, fighting took place in the village of Um Meil, to the east of Salamiyah, with the Army capturing the village. [5] The next day, after fierce fighting, the Syrian Army took control of the towns of Rasm al-Abd and Rasm al-Awabed, [6] southeast of Salamiyah. [26]

Aftermath

On 7 July, the Syrian Army captured the town of Hayalin. [27]

Related Research Articles

The Aqrab massacre is a contested event which occurred on 10/11 December 2012, during the Syrian civil war, in the Alawite section of the mixed town of Aqrab, Hama Governorate, Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that 125 people were killed or wounded in those events, while other activists claimed that as many as 300 people were killed. Activists said that they could confirm the deaths of 10 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Hama offensive</span> Military operation during the Syrian Civil War

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.

Halfaya is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located about 25 kilometers northwest of Hama. Nearby localities include Mahardah and Shaizar to the west, al-Lataminah and Kafr Zita to the north, Taybat al-Imam and Suran to the east, Khitab and Qamhana to the southeast, Tayzin to the south and Maarzaf to the southeast. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Halfaya had a population of 21,180 in the 2004 census. It is the largest locality in the Mahardah Subdistrict, which contained 21 localities with a combined population of 80,165 in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Wadi Deif (2012–2013)</span> Siege of two Syrian Army bases

The siege of Wadi Deif refers to the siege of two Syrian Army bases, Wadi Deif and Hamadiyah, by rebel forces, starting on 11 October 2012, during the Idlib Governorate clashes of the Syrian civil war.

Al-Tulaysiyah is a village in northern Syria, administratively part of the Hama Governorate, located northeast of Hama. Nearby localities include Fan al-Shamali to the south, al-Hamraa to the southeast, Atshan to the northwest, Ma'an to the west and Kawkab and Suran to the southwest. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, Al-Tuleisa had a population of 824 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Alawites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Latakia offensive</span> Campaign during the Syrian Civil War

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleppo offensive (October–December 2013)</span> 2013 campaign during the Syrian civil war

The October–December 2013 Aleppo offensive or Operation Northern Storm was a campaign during the Syrian civil war launched by the Syrian army in the Aleppo Governorate to reopen a key supply route linking central Syria to the largest city, Aleppo. The offensive began when the Syrian Army attacked the strategic town of Khanasir.

The Maan massacre was a reported massacre of Alawites in the village of Ma'an, Syria on 9 February 2014.

The 2014 Daraa offensive was a campaign during the Syrian Civil War launched by rebel forces, including the Free Syrian Army and the Islamic Front and Al-Nusra Front, to push back government forces in the Daraa Governorate, Quneitra Governorate, and As-Suwayda Governorate, in southwestern Syria, and thus opening the road to Damascus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Latakia offensive</span> Syrian rebel offensive

The 2014 Latakia offensive was a rebel offensive in the Latakia Governorate of Syria launched on 21 March 2014 by rebel Islamist groups including Al-Nusra Front, which called the offensive "Anfal", while a coalition of Supreme Military Council rebel groups called the offensive "The Martyrs Mothers". The objectives of the offensive have been stated to be the taking over of all strategic observatories, government villages and the Mediterranean coast. Observers have stated a strategic aim was to force the Syrian army to redeploy forces to Latakia, which would relieve pressure on other rebels elsewhere in Syria. They reportedly succeeded in this with government forces being sent from Idlib, Hama and Aleppo to bolster defenses.

The Battle of Morek took place during the Syrian Civil War in the Hama Governorate between the rebels and the Syrian Government. The clashes were concentrated around and in the eastern side of the town of Morek, as the Syrian Army tried to regain the town after it was lost to the rebels on 1 February 2014. The city was retaken by the rebels shortly after the collapse of the Northwestern Syria offensive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Canopus Star</span>

Operation Canopus Star was an operation launched by the Syrian Army, supported by Hezbollah and other allied militias, during the Syrian Civil War, following a successful offensive which re-established the military's supply route between Aleppo and central Syria. The aim of the operation was to encircle Aleppo and cut rebel supply lines into the city, thus besieging rebel-held areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Hama offensive</span> Military operation launched by rebels in the Syrian Civil War

The 2014 Hama offensive, codenamed Ghazwat Badr al-Sham al-Kubra, was a military operation launched by Syrian rebels during the Syrian Civil War in the northern parts of Hama Governorate, in an attempt to reach the Hama Military Airport and the provincial capital of the province. It was also launched in an attempt to cut the supply line to Aleppo, especially after the rebels seized the village of Rahjan.

The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war from August to December 2014. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Quneitra offensive</span> Military operation

The 2014 Quneitra offensive, code-named “The Real Promise” or "Chargers of Dawn", was a military operation launched by Syrian rebels during the Syrian civil war in Quneitra Governorate, in an attempt to take control of several sections in the central part of the province and around Quneitra city "with the aim of opening the way to Damascus."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwestern Syria offensive (October–November 2015)</span> Russo-Iran-Hezbollah joint offensive in Syria

On the 7 October 2015, shortly after the start of the Russian air campaign in Syria, the Syrian government forces and its allies launched a ground offensive against anti-government positions in northwestern Syria, initially in northern Hama Governorate. The primary objective is to seal off the northern Hama border with Idlib and "build a buffer-zone around the city of Khan Sheikhoun". It has been described as the first major Syrian-Russian coordinated attack since the start of the Syrian Civil War. The offensive was extended in the subsequent days to the al-Ghab plains, between northwest Hama and southwest Idlib, as well as to the edge of the Latakia governorate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Hama offensive</span>

The 2016 Hama offensive, codenamed as the Battle for the sake of God by the rebels, was a military offensive operation launched by Syrian rebels during the Syrian Civil War in the northern parts of Hama Governorate as an attempt to relieve pressure on rebels fighting in Aleppo city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hama offensive (March–April 2017)</span> Military offensive

The Hama offensive was a military offensive launched by Syrian rebel groups led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) north of the city of Hama, as part of the Syrian Civil War. The offensive began on 21 March 2017, and the rebels aimed to recapture areas recaptured by the Syrian Armed Forces in the 2016 Hama offensive, as well as pushing into Hama city. The offensive was coordinated with rebel forces in Damascus' eastern suburbs, who launched their own operation in March 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwestern Syria campaign (October 2017–February 2018)</span> Major phase of the Syrian civil war

The northwestern Syria campaign was a large-scale military operation that initially started with an offensive conducted by ISIL forces on areas controlled by Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the northern Hama Governorate. Subsequently, the Syrian Armed Forces launched their own offensive against HTS and other rebel groups in the area. The campaign took place at the intersection of the provinces of Hama, Idlib and Aleppo.

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