Syrian Army soldiers after breaking the siege of Nubl and al-Zahraa, 3 February 2016. A flag of the local "Soldiers of the Mahdi" (Imam Hujja Regiment) forces is in the foreground.
Date
19 July 2012 – 3 February 2016 (3years, 6months, 2weeks and 1day)
The siege of Nubl and al-Zahraa during the Syrian civil war was laid by rebels to capture two Syrian government-held towns north of Aleppo, after they had seized most of the northern countryside in July 2012. The siege was lifted on 3 February 2016, as a result of a Syrian government offensive.[15]
Fighting in the Aleppo Governorate began on 10 February 2012. Over the next five months, major clashes left large parts of the rural countryside under rebel control, while the provincial capital, Aleppo city, remained firmly under government control. On 19 July 2012, rebel forces stormed the city and the battle for Aleppo began,[16] which reached a stalemate by September that dragged on over the following years, with the city divided between the two opposing forces.
The siege
Map of the siege (Red: Syrian Arab Republic, Green: Syrian Opposition, Yellow: Kurdish forces)
The majority-Shiite towns of Nubl and al-Zahraa, with a combined population of 35,000–60,000,[17][18] were placed under siege by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) opposition group, beginning in July 2012. Movement out of Nubl was severely curtailed and residents relied on goods being airlifted by the Syrian Army. Relations between the inhabitants of Nubl and the surrounding villages were normally friendly, however during the ongoing civil war, anti-government supporters from nearby Sunni villages claimed that Nubl and al-Zahraa were hosting shabiha pro-government militias that launched attacks against opposition supporters. There were numerous tit-for-tat kidnappings between Nubl and pro-opposition villages in its vicinity.[19][20] After months of rebel siege and continuous reciprocal kidnappings, popular committees in the two towns agreed to begin negotiations with the Sunni rebels on 27 March 2013. The agreement to negotiate was organised by Kurdish parties from the neighbouring Kurd Dagh region, controlled by the Kurdish-led PYD. The talks were to be brokered by the Kurds, and several kidnapped individuals had been freed on both sides.[21] Over the following years, the only land route that brought some food and essential goods came from the then-Kurdish-held town of Afrin, to the north.[18]
In mid-2013, 125 Hezbollah fighters were deployed via helicopters to reinforce the government defenses.[14]
In February 2014, al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front and other Islamist groups captured the al-Ma'amel industrial area in the south of al-Zahraa.[22]
On 23 November 2014, the al-Nusra Front, along with other Islamist factions, launched a three-front assault on the two towns and seized the industrial area southeast of al-Zahraa.[23] They also advanced into the eastern outskirts of Nubl, which they targeted with dozens of mortar and hell-cannon shells after capturing buildings that were part of the government's first line of defense. Besides the regular Syrian Armed Forces troops and Hezbollah, the towns were also defended by their residents.[24] By the next day, both areas were recaptured by government forces.[7] Between eight and 43 rebels were killed during the two-day offensive.[24][7]
On 8 January 2015, a new rebel offensive, led by the al-Nusra Front, was launched against Nubl and Al-Zahraa. The first attack wave succeeded in breaking the first defensive line in both East Nubl and South Al-Zahraa, in the industrial area, and persisted overnight. The attack was repelled by National Defence Forces (NDF) and Hezbollah troops, ultimately resulting in the deaths of 14 rebels and 11 pro-government fighters. The rebels also lost four tanks,[25] three of which were captured.[26] Before being forced to retreat from the eastern part of Nubl, the rebels managed to capture the town's first and second roundabouts.[27] During the fighting, a series of air raids reportedly destroyed rebel reinforcement convoys coming from al-Maayer.[14] The next day, according to pro-government sources, a second attack was also repelled.[28] By 14 January, the military secured Nubl and claimed that al-Nusra suffered 250 dead during the offensive.[14]
Syrian Army soldiers after the siege, 3 February 2016Local civilians greet Syrian Army soldiers following the end of the siege, 3 February 2016
In mid-February 2015, the Syrian Army and its allies launched a major offensive in the northern Aleppo countryside, with the aim of cutting the last rebel supply routes into Aleppo city and relieving the rebel siege of Nubl and Al-Zahraa.[29] They quickly captured several villages,[30] but bad weather conditions and an inability to call up reinforcements stalled the offensive.[31] A few days later, the rebels launched a counter-offensive, retaking two of the four positions they had lost to government forces.[32]
During the fighting in February 2015, 18 members of the Iraqi Shiite militant group Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba were reportedly killed while defending Nubl and Al-Zahraa.[5]
On 17 April 2015, the NDF and Hezbollah recaptured the al-Ma'amel industrial area[22][33][34] and by 19 April, Syrian government sources reported that 44 rebels and 12 soldiers had been killed.[35] Beginning in October, the Iranian Air Force began to airdrop supplies for Nubl and al-Zahraa using two C-130 Hercules transports.[13]
Local civilians greet Syrian Army soldiers who broke the siege, 3 February 2016
On 1 February 2016, a new offensive was launched by the military to reach Nubl and al-Zahraa and break the siege. By 2 February, they had captured three villages and part of a fourth, advancing to within three kilometers of the two besieged towns. Throughout 1 and 2 February, 320 air-raids were conducted against the rebels.[36] At the same time, Hezbollah and pro-government fighters from Nubl and al-Zahraa launched their own assault and reportedly managed to gain some ground on the outskirts of the nearby town of Bayanoun.[17] On 3 February, the military had finally broken the rebel siege on the two Shiite towns, after securing the village of Mu'arrassat al-Khan,[37] where the approaching force and fighters trying to break out from the two towns linked up.[18] The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the advance, which also cut the last northern rebel supply route from Turkey to Aleppo city, was assisted by "heavy" Russian air strikes. An opposition politician described the government's encirclement of Aleppo as a "horrible development",[1] while in contrast the mayor of Nubl stated the rebel siege was "cruel and caused much hardship".[18] More than 100 rebels, 64–66 soldiers[12] and 18–45 civilians were killed during the operation.[36][38] Among the dead were 11 rebel commanders,[39] 20 pro-government fighters from the two towns and 14 Iranian IRGC members,[12] including Iranian 2nd Brigadier General Mohsen Ghajarian.[40] In all, more than 500 Russian and Syrian air strikes and barrel bombs bombarded rebel positions during the intensive two-day offensive to break the siege.[41]
Aftermath
The day following the end of the siege Nubl and al-Zahraa, the Syrian government advanced east and captured the town of Mayer[42] as well as reportedly Kafr Naya.[43] Meanwhile, further north, the Kurdish YPG seized two villages from the rebels.[44]
Nubl is a small city in northern Syria, administratively part of the Aleppo Governorate, located northwest of Aleppo. Nearby localities include al-Zahraa immediately to the south, Anadan to the southeast, Tel Rifaat to the northeast, Aqiba to the north, Barad to the west, and Mayer immediately to the east. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Nubl had a population of 21,039 in the 2004 census. Its inhabitants are predominantly Shia Muslims and together with nearby al-Zahraa, Nubl forms a small Shia-inhabited pocket in a mostly Sunni Muslim area in the Aleppo Governorate.
Al-Zahraa is a town in northern Syria, administratively part of the A'zaz District of Aleppo Governorate, located northwest of Aleppo. Nearby localities include Tell Rifaat and Mayer to the northeast and Anadan to the south. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Zahraa had a population of 13,780 in the 2004 census. Al-Zahraa has a predominantly Shia Muslim population and, along with nearby Nubl, forms a small Shia-inhabited pocket in a mostly Sunni Muslim area in the Aleppo Governorate.
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 2015 Southern Syria offensive, code-named "Operation Martyrs of Quneitra", was an offensive launched in southern Syria during the Syrian Civil War by the Syrian Arab Army, Hezbollah and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces. Government forces also include Iranian sponsored Afghani Shi'ite volunteer militias. The name "Operation Martyrs of Quneitra" refers to the January 2015 Mazraat Amal incident, in which several high level Hezbollah and IRGC members were killed in an Israeli strike.
Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian Civil War has been substantial since the beginning of armed insurgency phase of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, and evolved into active support for Ba'athist government forces and troop deployment from 2012 onwards. By 2014, Hezbollah was deployed across Syria. Hezbollah has also been very active in preventing Al-Nusra Front and Islamic State penetration into Lebanon, being one of the most active forces in the Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon.
A timeline of combat operations during the Battle of Aleppo throughout the year 2015.
Operation Rainbow was an operation launched by the Syrian Army, supported by Hezbollah and other allied militias, during the Syrian Civil War, following a successful operation which led to the military encircling Aleppo from the east side and reaching the city's northern approach. The aim of the operation, as the previous one, was to encircle Aleppo and cut rebel supply lines into the city, thus besieging rebel-held areas.
The Qalamoun offensive was an offensive led by the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah, supported by the Syrian Army, during the Syrian Civil War, against the al-Nusra Front and other Syrian opposition forces entrenched in the mountains of the Qalamoun region.
The Battle of Zabadani (2015) started in early July 2015, during the Syrian Civil War, as a military offensive launched by the Syrian Army, and Hezbollah to capture the rebel-held town of Al-Zabadani.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian Civil War from January to July 2015. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian Civil War.
The siege of al-Fu'ah and Kefriya was a siege of the towns of al-Fu'ah and Kafriya in the Idlib Governorate, towns with majority Shia populations and controlled by the Syrian government during the Syrian civil war. The siege began with a Sunni Islamist rebel assault on the capital of the province in March 2015, resulting in the capture of Idlib. On 18 July 2018, the besieged government forces reached an agreement with Tahrir al-Sham-led rebels to evacuate them and civilians from the two towns.
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.
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 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.
The Northern Aleppo offensive refers to a military operation launched northwest of Aleppo in early February 2016 by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies. The offensive successfully broke the three-year Siege of Nubl and Al-Zahraa, effectively cutting off the main supply route of the Syrian rebels from Turkey.
The 2016 Southern Aleppo campaign was a series of military operations that started on 1 April when the Islamist rebel coalition Army of Conquest, led by the al-Nusra Front, launched a surprise offensive south of Aleppo. The main objective of the operation was to recapture territory they had lost during the large-scale government offensive in late 2015.
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.
The 2016 Latakia offensive, code-named Battle of Yarmouk, refers to a rebel operation launched in the northern Latakia Governorate in late June 2016. The aim of the offensive was to recapture the territory lost during the Army's offensive earlier in the year.
The Aleppo offensive was a Syrian Army counter-offensive launched on the southern outskirts of Aleppo in mid-September 2016. The aim of the offensive was to recapture territory lost due to a rebel offensive earlier in August and besiege the rebel-held part of Aleppo once again.
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Free Syrian Army [2] [3] 
Islamic Front [3] 
al-Nusra Front [3] 
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [4] 
Iran 
Russia (from late 2015)
Hezbollah 
Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba [5] 
