| Orontes River offensive | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Syrian Civil War | |||||||
 Map of the offensive | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Free Syrian Army | |||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Unknown | 11th Tank Division | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 86+ killed [1] [2] [5] [6] | Unknown | ||||||
The Orontes River offensive was a military operation launched by the Syrian Arab Army against rebels during the Syrian Civil War on the administrative border of the Hama Governorate and Homs Governorate, along the Orontes River.
The offensive commenced on 30 December 2015, [1] and by 3 January, the Army took control of 10–11 villages in the southeastern countryside of Hama along the Orontes River, [4] [7] one of them being Jarniyah that leads to the eastern deserts of Homs province. [1] The advances also secured the Hama-Salamiyah road. [7]
On 11 January, the military's focus shifted to the southern countryside of Hama. They started an attack the village of Jarjisah, on the administrative border between Hama and Homs provinces, and on the northern bank of the Orontes River. Before the assault, government troops issued a deadline to the rebels to surrender, which was ignored. By the next day, the Army captured the village, and immediately started to shell the nearby rebel-held village of Harbinafsah, in preparation for an assault there as well. [2] [8]
On 13 January, the Army temporarily seized Harbinafsah, [5] but withdrew 24 hours later, positioning themselves on its northern outskirts. [9]
In the night between 14 and 15 January, following heavy fighting, an agreement was reached between government forces and the citizens of Deir al-Fardis, leading to the Army's capture of the village. [3] [10] Meanwhile, heavy clashes took place around Harbinafsah, as the Army advanced in the area. [11] The government force's advances over the previous several days had cut off rebel supply lines to the city of Al-Rastan and its surrounding area. [12]
On 18 January, the military once again entered the northern part of Harbinafsah. [13] The same day, Islamist rebels posted images on social media of beheaded soldiers in the contested village. [14] The next day, the rebels reportedly seized the al-Bashakir factory checkpoint on the outskirts of Harbinfsah. [15] On 20 January, the Army renewed its offensive [16] and captured the al-Madajen area north of Harbinfsah, [15] while also reportedly advancing into the southern part of the nearby village of Al-Zarrah. [16]
The offensive had cut off 120,000 people in the northern part of Homs province, according to the U.N., leading to increased hunger and patients dying due to a lack of medical care. [17]
Hama Governorate is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in western-central Syria, bordering Idlib and Aleppo Governorates to the north, Raqqa Governorate to the east, Homs Governorate to the south, and Tartus and Latakia Governorate to the west. It is the only Governorate that does not border a foreign country. Measures of its area vary from 8,844 km2 to 8,883 km2, with its capital being the city of Hama.
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 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.
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The 2015 Hama offensive was a military operation launched by Syrian rebels during the Syrian Civil War in the northern parts of Hama Governorate.
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 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.
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 Army of Glory, formerly the Union of Glory, is a Sunni Islamist Syrian rebel group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army active in northwestern Syria, mainly in the al-Ghab Plain in northern Hama and its surroundings. Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have supplied the group with anti-tank missiles including 9K111 Fagots and BGM-71 TOWs. The group has also expressed its disapproval of international efforts such as the Astana and Sochi agreements for de-escalating the war in Syria, and has opposed Russia's involvement in the war. Jaysh al-Izza also made efforts to join the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation which includes other prominent Syrian opposition groups in Idlib such as Ahrar al-Sham and the Sham Legion, but did not do so out of complications with the integration about which Jaysh al-Izza's leadership did not elaborate.
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.
The western al-Bab offensive was a multi-sided military confrontation between the Syrian Army, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), other (Turkey-backed) FSA factions, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the countryside of northwestern Aleppo Governorate, south of the towns of Mare' and Tel Rifaat.
The siege of Deir ez-Zor was a large-scale siege imposed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against several districts in the city of Deir ez-Zor held by the Syrian Army, in an attempt to capture the city and secure full control of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. The ISIL siege of the city lasted for almost 3 years and 2 months, after which the Syrian Army launched a successful offensive that fully recaptured the city nine weeks later.
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.
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The Northern Homs offensive was launched by the Syrian Armed Forces against the rebel pocket in the northern Homs Governorate and the southern Hama Governorate on 15 April 2018. It came after the defeat of the rebel forces in the final government offensive against rebels in eastern Ghouta. Following negotiations with Syrian and Russian military officials, rebels surrendered the northern Homs pocket on 2 May, and those who refused to stay were fully evacuated on 16 May. Subsequently, the Syrian government regained full control of the area.
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