2016 Khanasir offensive | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Syrian Civil War and the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War | |||||||
Map of the course of the offensive (also included the concurrent SAA-led Ithriyah-Raqqa offensive) Syrian Army control Syrian Opposition control Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant control | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
al-Quds Brigades [8] Contents | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) [11] Free Syrian Army [11] | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Maj. Gen. Suheil Al Hassan [12] Ali Fayyad † [13] (Hezbollah senior commander) | Umar Al-Absi † [14] (Aleppo commander) | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
| Military of ISIL | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Unknown | 1,000 ISIL fighters [16] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
87–94 killed [1] [19] | 150 killed (per SOHR) [1] 400–450 killed (per pro-gov. sources) [19] [20] |
The 2016 Khanasir offensive was a military operation conducted by ISIL and Jund al-Aqsa, during the Syrian Civil War, with the aim of cutting the Syrian government's only supply route to the northern part of the Aleppo Governorate, which runs through the town of Khanasir.
At 10 p.m. on 21 February, the offensive was launched by ISIL. [21] By the next day, a joint attack by militants from both ISIL and al-Qaeda-linked Jund al-Aqsa captured the village of Rasm Al-Nafal, as well as two other points along the Khanasir-Aleppo Road, [11] cutting the Syrian government's only supply route to Aleppo city. [22] The jihadists then proceeded to additionally seize six other villages and a hill. [23] [24] A convoy of reinforcements from the town of As-Safira, consisting of the pro-government Palestinian militia Liwa Al-Quds was sent to reopen the road [8] and by the end of the day they had recaptured the hill. [23]
On 23 February, two contingents of the Syrian Army's special forces unit, known as the Tiger Forces, were also sent to help in reestablishing control of the road. Meanwhile, ISIL launched an assault on the town of Khanasir, commanded by Mahmutcan Ateş, which began with a failed suicide car-bomb attack against a checkpoint in its outskirts. [17] Throughout the morning, the military recaptured four out of seven positions they had lost on the road, but ultimately ISIL managed to capture Khanasir. [25] In the afternoon, [26] the Tiger Forces launched a general counteroffensive with a missile barrage, followed by a tank assault. The Syrian Army waited before entering the villages ISIL had captured, until Russian airstrikes had dissipated. [27] The counterattack was launched from two flanks, with the Tiger Forces and Hezbollah assaulting Rasm Al-Nafal from the north, while the Army and the Liwaa Al-Quds Brigade advanced from the south towards Khanasir. [10] By the evening, government forces recaptured Syria Tel Hill (Tal Syria Tel), outside Khanasir, [28] and Rasm Al-Nafal. [4]
The following morning, the Syrian Army re-entered Khanasir and one other village. [26] Later, they managed to seize Tal Za’rour hill, while also advancing to the central district of Khanasir. [29] At this time, the cutting of the road by ISIL caused prices of food and medical supplies in Aleppo city to raise dramatically. [30] On 25 February, the Tiger Forces and their allies recaptured Khanasir, while several hills outside the town were still ISIL-held. [3] [31] [32] The Army then advanced north of Khanasir and captured the nearby village of Al-Mughayrat, [33] along with four hilltops north of it (including the large Talat Al-Bayda hill). [3] At the same time, government forces advancing from the north seized Shilallah al-Kabeera, which they breached the previous day with the help of Russian airstrikes. [34] [35] By the end of the day, government troops reached two more villages and started preparing for a new assault on the next morning. [3]
Early on 26 February, the Syrian Army made more advances, recapturing three villages. [18] [36] [37] The advances nearly besieged ISIL forces in a pocket of villages southwest of Lake Jabbul. [38] Later in the day, the Army captured the remaining four villages that ISIL held, [5] thus clearing the road to Aleppo. [39] However, elsewhere, ISIL took control of a village near al-Hamam Mountain, that overlooks the supply road. [40] Government forces reportedly re-secured the village the following day. [6] [41]
On 28 February, the Syrian Army captured two villages and two mountain points, near Khanasir. [41] [42] At the same time, elsewhere the Syrian Army captured the last point on the Sheikh Hilal-Ithriya Road that was held by ISIL. [7] On 29 February, the road to Aleppo city was once again reopened. [43]
Between 9 and 10 March, government forces captured 13 villages previously held by ISIL, near the southern bank of Lake Jabbūl, [44] forcing ISIL to set up a new defensive line east of the lake. [45]
On 14 April, ISIL launched another offensive on Khanasir, [46] and by the following day they captured hills near the town, [47] the Duraham Oil Field [48] and 10 villages. They also seized a large cache of weapons, ammunition and several armored vehicles. [49] On 16 April, Syrian Army reinforcements were sent to the area, [50] and by the evening they recaptured all of the territory lost, except the oil field. [51]
Between 26 January and 12 February 2017, heavy fighting took place near Khanasir with back-and-forth fighting. [52] [53] [54] On 12 February, 39 pro-government fighters and at least 12 ISIL militants were killed in an attack by ISIL east of Khanasir and south of Jabboul lake. [55] Towards the end of February, the Republican Guard seized the village of Umm Miyal, east of the highway, along with the adjacent hills. [56]
The Hama and Homs offensive during the Syrian Civil War was launched by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in an attempt to cut the government supply line between its troops in central and northern Syria.
The Aleppo offensive was a Syrian Army large-scale strategic offensive south of Aleppo. The main objective of the operation was to secure the Azzan Mountains, while also creating a larger buffer zone around the only highway to the provincial capital controlled by the Syrian government. A related objective was to establish favourable conditions for a planned offensive to isolate rebel forces in Aleppo City and to relieve the long-standing siege of a pro-government enclave in Aleppo Governorate.
On 14 September 2015, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) – in cooperation with the National Defence Forces (NDF) and the Al-Ba'ath Battalion – launched a fresh offensive inside the Aleppo Governorate's southeastern countryside in order to lift the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham's (ISIS) two-year-long siege of the isolated Kuweires Military Airbase. This offensive was later complemented by another effort starting mid-October further south, which would be aimed at cementing government control over the main logistical route to Aleppo from central Syria.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to April 2016. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
Following the Syrian Arab Army's successful Kuweires offensive, during the Syrian Civil War, which ended with the securing of the Kuweires Military Airbase on 16 November 2015, the Syrian Army launched a new offensive in the eastern countryside of the Aleppo Governorate, with the aim of expanding the buffer zone around the airbase and disrupting ISIL supply lines.
The Ithriyah-Raqqa offensive was a military operation conducted by the Syrian Arab Army against ISIL, during the Syrian Civil War, with the aim of reaching the ISIL-held Al-Tabqa Military Airport.
The Northern Aleppo offensive was a series of military operations launched by Syrian opposition forces against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and vice versa in the northern Aleppo Governorate, near the Syria–Turkey border, the city of Azaz and the town of Mare'. The offensive is supported by airstrikes against ISIL conducted by the United States-led CJTF-OIR coalition and artillery shelling by the Turkish Armed Forces.
The 2016 Aleppo summer campaign started with a military operation launched on the northern outskirts of Aleppo in late June 2016, by the Syrian Arab Army. The aim of the offensive was to cut the last rebel supply line into Aleppo city.
This is a chronological account of combat operations in 2016 during the Battle of Aleppo, part of the Syrian Civil War.
The Battle of al-Bab was a battle for the city of al-Bab in the Aleppo Governorate that included a military offensive launched by Syrian rebel groups and the Turkish Armed Forces north of al-Bab, a separate Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) offensive east and west of the city, and another Syrian Army offensive from the south of the city. The northern Turkish-led forces intended to capture al-Bab from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as part of the Turkish military intervention in Syria. By the end of the battle, the Turkish-led forces had captured al-Bab, Qabasin, and Bizaah, while the Syrian Army captured Tadef and other areas further south, with the SDF making gains further to the east and the west.
The Palmyra offensive in December 2016 was a military operation launched by the military of ISIL which led to the re-capture of the ancient city of Palmyra, and an unsuccessful ISIL attack on the Tiyas T-4 Airbase to the west of the city. ISIL previously controlled the city from May 2015 until March 2016.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to April 2017. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The Palmyra offensive in 2017 was launched by the Syrian Arab Army against the armed forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Eastern Homs Governorate in January 2017, with the goal of recapturing Palmyra and its surrounding countryside. ISIL forces had retaken the city of Palmyra in a sudden offensive from 8 to 11 December, after previously being expelled from it by Syrian government and Russian forces in March 2016. On 2 March 2017, the Syrian Army alongside Russian reinforcement, succeeded again in recapturing the beleaguered city of Palmyra.
The East Aleppo offensive (2017), also referred to as the Dayr Hafir offensive, was an operation launched by the Syrian Army to prevent Turkish-backed rebel forces from advancing deeper into Syria, and also to ultimately capture the ISIL stronghold of Dayr Hafir. Another aim of the operation was to gain control of the water source for Aleppo city, at the Khafsa Water Treatment Plant, in addition to capturing the Jirah Military Airbase. At the same time, the Turkish-backed rebel groups turned towards the east and started launching attacks against the Syrian Democratic Forces, west of Manbij.
The Eastern Homs offensive in 2017 was a military operation of the Syrian Arab Army and its allies in Eastern part of Homs Governorate against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant forces during the Syrian Civil War.
The Maskanah Plains offensive was an operation by the Syrian Army against the remaining Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) strongholds in the eastern countryside of the Aleppo Province, with the goal of recapturing the Maskanah Plains from ISIL and advancing into the Raqqa Governorate.
The Eastern Hama offensive (2017) was a military operation conducted by the Syrian Army against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with the goal to secure the Ithriyah-Sheikh Hilal road, the government supply line towards Aleppo, and advance towards Wadi Auzain.
The 2017 Southern Raqqa offensive was an operation by the Syrian Army against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the southwestern countryside of the Raqqa Province.