2017 Jobar offensive | |||||||
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Part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate campaign of the Syrian Civil War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Syrian Arab Republic | Al-Rahman Legion [1] [2] | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Unknown | Captain Abdul Nasr Shamir (al-Rahman Legion commander-in-chief) [3] Abu Saeed al-Basha (al-Rahman Legion commander) † [4] | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Syrian Air Force | Al-Rahman Legion | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | 400 killed (per SAA) [7] | ||||||
50 civilians killed [8] |
The 2017 Jobar offensive was a military operation launched by the Syrian Arab Army and allies against rebel positions in the eastern outskirts of Damascus city, mainly the neighbourhood of Jobar and Ayn Tarma. [9]
Jobar has remained the last major stronghold of rebels in east Damascus city since the SAA restored full control over the Qaboun and Barzeh districts earlier in May 2017.
From 14 to 18 June 2017, the Syrian Arab Air Force launched dozens of air and artillery strikes in Jobar to prepare for the offensive. [2] [10]
On 20 June, Syrian government forces launched a major military operation in the Jobar suburb in eastern Damascus, in a bid to capture this long-standing rebel stronghold. Prior to the ground attack, the Russian Air Force along with the Syrian Arab Air Force targeted rebel positions in Jobar, Ayn Tarma and Zamalka with heavy bombardment that was ongoing since pre-dawn hours. [11] On 21 June, the military reportedly made advances in both Jobar and the Ain Terma area. [12] [13] The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported local activist claims of a chemical attack on northern Jobar on 22 June. [14]
On 24 June, the Syrian Army captured the Ayn Tarma valley from the al-Rahman Legion, in addition to the southern parts of Ayn Tarma town. [15] [16] A rebel counter-attack was repelled on 26 June. [17] On 28 June, Syrian Army advanced inside Ayn Tarma, securing areas near Sunbul Fuel Station and Ayn Tarma Garage, while in Jobar they captured some points in Taybah district near the Great Mosque. [18]
On 29 June, the Syrian Army was in control of almost all buildings near the Sunbul Fuel Station and also captured the Ayn Tarma Junction, imperiling the main rebel supply route to Jobar. [19] On 2 July, the 105th Brigade of the Republican Guard captured around 15 building blocks east of the M5 highway, and later captured most of Ayn Tarma's southern quarters. The al-Rahman Legion and the Syrian Network for Human Rights reported said that Ayn Tarma came under a chlorine gas attack; [20] [21] the Syrian Army stated that this was just vindication the rebel group was using to justify its recent losses. [22] [23] [24]
On 5 July, Syrian Army operations resumed on Jobar and Ayn Tarma with the Army capturing a number of points in the Taybah area of the former and most of Ayn Tarma Triangle was captured in the latter. Concurrently, Jaysh al-Islam took advantage of the situation storming the towns of Beit Sawa and Al-Ashari. [25] [26] [27] Four days later, the Army reached the center of Ayn Tarma Triangle and began pushing northwards. [28] Government airstrikes continued through mid-July on Ayn Tarma, Hazzah and Zamalka as part of the offensive on Jobar, with many casualties. [29]
On 22 July, a ceasefire was brokered in East Ghouta by Egypt, Russia, Jaysh al-Islam, and Syria's Tomorrow Movement. However, the Rahman Legion and Tahrir al-Sham were excluded from the ceasefire. [30] The next day, Ayn Tarma, as well as Harasta, Arbeen and Douma, were hit by several airstrikes. [31] [32] More clashes between the Rahman Legion and the Syrian Army erupted overnight between 25 and 26 July. [33]
On 8 August, fighting intensified in Ayn Tarma and other districts in eastern Damascus. The Rahman Legion targeted several Syrian Army vehicles at the front. By 9 August, dozens of artillery and air strikes hit rebel positions in the district. [30]
It was reported on 12 August that the SAA made advances at the al-Manasher Roundabout and the Arab Neighborhood of Jobar. [34] However, the next day, a rebel tunnel bomb blast killed between 16 and 20 soldiers in the Jobar district. [35] Still, the Syrian Army made further progress on 14 August, as they pushed further southwards from al-Manasher Roundabout, capturing several building blocks east of Jobar Sports Hall. [36]
Syrian government forces continued to bomb towns and villages in Eastern Ghouta in Rif Dimashq throughout late August and early September, along with ground operations around Jobar and Ayn Tarma, directed at ceasefire signatory al-Rahman Legion and other rebel groups. [37]
On 25 September 2017, the Syrian Army, led by the Republican Guard and the 4th Armoured Division, reported it had broken through rebel frontlines along the Jobar-Ayn Tarma axis, resulting in the capture of 30 building blocks, some of which government sources said were demolished by the rebels to thwart further army gains. [38] SOHR reported heavy shelling of built-up areas in Jobar on 26 September. [39] Rahman Legion fighters were killed and injured after a pre-planned artillery strike hit them as they were maneuvering across an open road near the frontline in Ayn Tarma on 27 September. [40] The next day, a tunnel complex was detonated by the Rahman Legion, resulting in massive devastation across the entire western part of Ayn Tarma and the deaths of 45 Syrian Army soldiers with dozens more injured. [41] [42] Afterwards there was a de-escalation of the fighting until 15 October, when rebel fighters shelled the Old City of Damascus, killing four and injuring nine people. The Syrian Air Force responded with airstrikes on Misraba, Saqba and Ayn Tarma. [9]
The inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian Civil War has continued throughout the Syrian Civil War as factions of the Syrian opposition and Free Syrian Army have fought each other, with shifting alliances among various Islamist factions such as Jabhat al Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam and the Islamic Front.
The Rif Dimashq offensive was a Syrian Army offensive in the Rif Dimashq Governorate, that was launched in late August 2014, as part of the Syrian Civil War.
The Al-Rahman Legion, also known as the Al-Rahman Corps, is a Syrian rebel group that operated in Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus, and in the eastern Qalamoun Mountains. It was the main rebel group in Jobar, and was backed by Qatar. The group's leader is Abdul al-Nasr Shamir, a former Syrian Army officer from rural Homs who defected from the Syrian Army in early 2012. The Legion has been described as an "Islamist" or as a non-Salafi "political Islamist" organisation. It describes itself as "a revolutionary military entity aiming for the downfall of the Syrian regime, seeking to create an Islamic state". In 2016, it was described as "one of the oldest standing opposition factions in Damascus and maintains high levels of local legitimacy and support." Under a surrender agreement, over 5,000 of its fighters and associated civilians left Damascus for northwestern Syria in March 2018.
The East Ghouta inter-rebel conflict was an armed conflict between the rebel coalition of Jaish al-Fustat, consisting of the al-Nusra Front and al-Rahman Legion, and the rebel group Jaysh al-Islam, that occurred in the rebel-held territories east of Damascus. Tensions between the two groups took place since March 2016, when the Rahman Legion expelled Jaysh al-Islam in Zamalka after absorbing the Ajnad al-Sham Islamic Union in February.
The Rif Dimashq offensive , code-named Operation Damascus Steel, was a military offensive launched by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in February 2018 in a bid to capture the rebel-held eastern Ghouta suburb during the Syrian Civil War. East Ghouta, a pocket of towns and farms, had been under government siege since 2013 and had been a major rebel stronghold in the vicinity of the capital of Damascus. According to the United Nations, nearly 400,000 people live in East Ghouta.
The Rif Dimashq offensive is a Syrian Army offensive in the Rif Dimashq Governorate that was launched in late June 2016, as part of the Syrian Civil War. The offensive resulted in the military's capture of parts of the eastern section of the rebel-held eastern Ghouta.
The Khan al-Shih offensive was a Syrian Army offensive in the Rif Dimashq Governorate that was launched in early October 2016, as part of the Syrian Civil War. Its aim was to take control of the rebel-held part of western Ghouta. The main rebel stronghold in the region was the town of Khan al-Shih.
The Qaboun offensive (2017) was a military operation of the Syrian Arab Army in the suburbs of Damascus against rebel forces during the Syrian Civil War. Its intended goal was to capture the Damascus suburbs of Qaboun and Barzeh from rebels led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
The East Ghouta inter-rebel conflict was an armed conflict between the rebel groups Tahrir al-Sham and al-Rahman Legion on one side, and the rebel group Jaysh al-Islam on the other, which took place in the rebel-held territories east of Damascus. Open conflict between the groups also took place exactly one year earlier, before a ceasefire was implemented.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from May to August 2017. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The Syrian Desert campaign was a large-scale military operation of the Syrian Army that initially started along the highway from Damascus to the border with Iraq against rebel forces during the Syrian civil war. Its first intended goal was to capture both the highway and the al-Tanf border crossing, thus securing the Damascus countryside from a potential rebel attack. Later, multiple other fronts were opened as part of the operation throughout the desert, as well as operation "Grand Dawn" against ISIL with the aim of reopening the Damascus-Palmyra highway and preparing for an offensive towards Deir ez-Zor.
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 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.
The Quneitra offensive , code-named "Road to Damascus", was a military operation launched by rebel forces against the Syrian Arab Army at the town of Madinat al-Baath, in the Quneitra Governorate, during the Syrian Civil War.
The Central Syria campaign, known as "Operation Khuzam", or "Lavender", was a large-scale military operation of the Syrian Army (SAA) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during the Syrian Civil War. Its goal was to capture the strategic oil town of Al-Sukhnah, and besiege and capture 11,000 square kilometers of ISIL territory in central Syria, after which the Syrian Army would advance towards Deir ez-Zor, and lift the three-year ISIL siege of the government's enclave in the city. Afterwards, the Syrian Army advanced towards the Islamic State's then-capital of Mayadin.
The Beit Jinn offensive was a military operation by the Syrian Arab Army against opposition groups in the Western Ghouta area, starting on 28 November 2017.
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.
The Battle of Harasta, codenamed "They Were Wronged", was a military operation launched by Syrian rebels against positions of the Syrian Arab Army in Harasta, a northeastern suburb of Damascus, during the Syrian Civil War
The Southern Damascus offensive began on 5 January 2018 as Jaysh al-Islam fighters attempted to infiltrate ISIL positions within the orchards situated in-between Yalda and Hajjar As-Aswad to the immediate south of Damascus city. This resulted in numerous casualties and as such, a week later, on 12 January ISIL shock troops launched a counter-assault on Yalda's Zein neighborhood, triggering heavy clashes, resulting in the eventual capture of several buildings in the area. On 22 January, ISIL made further progress in Taqdam Neighborhood of Hajjar al-Aswad, to this date ISIL ended up controlling 3/4 of Yarmouk Camp, majority of Hajjar al-Aswad, Qadam, Tadamon and large part of Yalda's eastern axis. Fighting continued with ISIL forces continuing their advance against other militant groups later into January, with majority of a street between Yalda and Babbila as well as some gains within the district of Tadamon. By 27 January, ISIL controlled almost the entirety of Hajjar al-Aswad after breaking through the last lines of defense and were on the verge of entering the town of Yalda, during the same time, further areas were also captured in the Yarmouk district.
The siege of Eastern Ghouta was a siege that was laid by Syrian Government forces in April 2013, to the area in eastern Ghouta held by anti-government forces since November 2012, during the Syrian civil war. The cities and villages under siege were Douma, Mesraba, Arbin, Hamouria, Saqba, Modira, Eftreis, Jisrin, as well as suburbs of Damascus Beit Sawa, Harasta, Zamalka, Ein Tarma, Hizzah and Kafr Batna. By 2016, around 400,000 people were trapped in an area just over 100 square kilometres in size, thus with a population density around 4,000 inhabitants/km2.