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Post 4972
Syrian Civil War
|Part of the Arab Spring and
the spillover of the Iraqi Civil War
Current military situation: Red: Syrian Government, Yellow: Kurds (Rojava),Grey:Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, White: al-Nusra Front, Green:Opposition
(for a more detailed map, see Cities and towns during the Syrian Civil War). Map above was last updated on December 9, 2015.
| Opposition
Other allied groups:
Allied militias:
Allied militias:
|Syrian Armed Forces: 178,000 General Security Directorate: 8,000National Defense Force: 80,000
Iran: 15,000
Russia: 4,000
Ba'ath Brigades: 7,000
al-Abbas brigade: 10,000
Hezbollah: 3,000–5,000
Syrian Resistance: 2,000
|FSA: 40,000–50,000Islamic Front: 40,000–70,000
Ajnad al-Sham Union: up to 15,000
AD Front: 13,000
Army of Mujahedeen: 5,000–12,000
al-Zenki movement: 3,000+
Alwiya al-Furqan: 2,000+
|People's Protection Units (YPG): 65,000Jabhat al-Akrad: 7,000
| Syrian Government:52,077–87,077 soldiers killed
35,235–49,235 militiamen killed7,000 soldiers and militiamen and 2,000 supporters captured
971 killed
Other non-Syrian fighters:
3,395 killed (194IRGC)
3–4 killed
|80,762–121,762 fighters killed
979 protesters killed26,500 fighters and supporters captured or missing
8,143 fighters killed
| Rojava:
1,276–1,445 fighters killed
74,426–88,328 (2,996 foreign) civilian deaths documented by opposition
Total killed:
130,000 captured or missing overall
Over 7,600,000 internally displaced (according to UNHCRby July 2015)
a Some of the rebels that have been armed by the United States have given vehicles and ammunition to the al-Nusra Front.
b Also aligned with Syrian opposition forces
c Number includes Kurdish and ISIL fighters, whose deaths are also listed in their separate columns
The Syrian Civil War (Arabic: الحرب الأهلية السورية) is an ongoing multisided armed conflict with international interventions taking place in Syria. The unrest began in the early spring of 2011 within the context of Arab Spring protests, with nationwide protests against President Bashar al-Assad's government, whose forces responded with violent crackdowns. The conflict gradually morphed from prominent protests to an armed rebellion after months of military sieges.
The Syrian government initially primarily relied on its armed forces, but since 2014 local protection units made up of volunteers known as National Defence Forcehave come to play a larger role, gradually becoming the primary military force of the Syrian state. From the early stages, the Syrian government received technical, financial, military and political support from Russia, Iran and Iraq. In 2013, Iran-backed Hezbollah entered the war in support of the Syrian Army. Due toforeign involvement, the conflict had been called a proxy war between the regional powers. In September 2015, Russia, Iraq, Iran and Syria set up a joint operation room (information centre) in Baghdad to coordinate their activity in Syria. On 30 September 2015, Russia started its own air campaign on the side and at the request of the government of Syria. The resultant proxy war between the U.S. and Russia led some commentators to characterise the situation as a "a proto-world war with nearly a dozen countries embroiled in two overlapping conflicts".
In July 2013, the Syrian government was said to be in control of approximately 30–40% of the country's territory and 60% of the Syrian population; in August 2015, the territory fully controlled by the Syrian Army was reported to have shrunk to 29,797 km2, roughly 16% of the country.The Syrian government enjoys high levels of support in certain areas under its control; according to a poll organised by British ORB International, up to 73% of the population in government-controlled areas support the government effort.
A United Nations report in late 2012 described the conflict as being "overtlysectarian in nature", between mostly Alawite government forces, militias and other Shia groups fighting largely against Sunni-dominated rebel groups, although both opposition and government forces have denied this. As of January 2015, the death toll had risen above 220,000 with estimates in April 2015 as high as 310,000. The majority of casualties are Syrian soldiers and popular resistance fighters, followed by Islamist fighters, the two groups together making up to as much as 90 percent of all casualties. International organizations have accused the Syrian government, ISIL and other opposition forces of severe human rights violations, with many massacres occurring. Chemical weapons have been used many times during the conflict as well. The Syrian opposition blames the government for the majority of thewar crimes and civilian casualties, often through bombings. In addition, tens of thousands of protesters and activists have been imprisoned and there are reports of torture in state prisons. Rebels have committed various crimes and have on multiple occasions called for genocide and ethnic cleansing of Christians, Alawites, Shiite, Druze and other minorities.
The severity of the humanitarian disaster in Syria has been outlined by the UN and many international organizations. More than 7.6 million Syrians have been internally displaced, more than 5 million have fled to nearby countries such asTurkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, andKuwait, and a few hundred thousand havefled to the European Union becoming refugees. Millions more have been left in poor living conditions with shortages of food and drinking water.
Assad government
Syria became an independent republic in 1946, although democratic rule ended with a coup in March 1949, followed by two more coups the same year. A popularuprising against military rule in 1954 saw the army transfer power to civilians. From 1958 to 1961, a brief union with Egypt replaced Syria's parliamentary system with a highly centralized presidential regime.TheBa'ath Syrian Regional Branchgovernment came to power through a successful coup d'état in 1963. Another coup in 1966 overthrew the traditional leaders of the party, Michel Aflaq andSalah al-Din al-Bitar. General Hafez al-Assad,
|حافظ الأسد
Hafez al-Assad in 1996
|In office
12 March 1971 – 10 June 2000
|Ahmad al-Khatib
|Abdul Halim Khaddam (acting)
|In office
21 November 1970 – 3 April 1971
|Nureddin al-Atassi
|Abdul Rahman Khleifawi
|In office
18 November 1970 – 10 June 2000
|Nureddin al-Atassi
|Bashar al-Assad
|Assumed office
12 September 1971
|Abdullah al-Ahmar
|Nureddin al-Atassi
|Abdullah al-Ahmar (de facto; al-Assad is still de jure Secretary General, even though he is dead.)
|In office
23 February 1966 – 1972
|Muhammad Umran
|Mustafa Tlass
|In office
27 March 1966 – 10 June 2000
|In office
5 September 1963 – 4 April 1965
|6 October 1930
Qardaha, Alawite State, Syria
|10 June 2000 (aged 69)
Damascus, Syria
|Qardaha, Syria
|Ba'ath Party (Syrian faction)(since 1966)
|Arab Ba'ath Party (1946–1947)
Ba'ath Party (1947–1966)
|Aniseh (née Makhluf)
|Jamil al-Assad (brother)
Rifaat al-Assad (brother)
|Bushra (b. 1960)
Bassel (1962–1994)
Bashar (b. 1965)
Majd (1966–2009)Maher (b. 1968)
|Homs Military Academy
|Statesman, politician
|Air Force Pilot officer
|Shia Islam (Alawite)
|Syrian Air Force
|Syrian Air Force
|Six Day War (1967)
War of Attrition (1967–1970)
Black September (1970–1971)
the Minister of Defense, seized power in the "corrective movement" in November 1970, becoming Prime Minister. In March 1971, Hafez Assad declared himselfPresident, a position that he held until his death in 2000. Since then, the secular Syrian Regional Branch has remained the dominant political authority in what was virtually a single-party state in Syria; Syrian citizens could only approve the president by referendum and – until the government-controlled multi-party 2012 parliamentary election – could not vote in multi-party elections for the legislature.
Bashar al-Assad took over as President of Syria from his father Hafez al-Assad. He and his wifeAsma al-Assad,
أسماء الأسد
Asma al-Assad in 2003
|Assumed office
December 2000
|Anisa Makhlouf
|Asma Akhras
11 August 1975
London, England
|Syrian, British
|Bashar al-Assad (m. 2000)
|Fawaz Akhras
|King's College London
|Sunni Islam
a Sunni Muslim born and educated in Britain, initially inspired hopes for democratic and state reforms. A "Damascus Spring" of intense social and political debate took place between July 2000 and August 2001. The period was characterized by the emergence of numerous political forums or salons, where groups of like-minded people met in private houses to debate political and social issues, and political activists such as Riad Seif, Haitham al-Maleh,Kamal al-Labwani, Riyad al-Turk and Aref Dalila emerged. The Riad Seif Forum and the Jamal al-Atassi Forum were the most famous of these salons. The Damascus Spring largely ended in August 2001 with the arrest and imprisonment of ten leading activists who had called for democratic elections and a campaign of civil disobedience. After 2001 even reformists in Parliament began to criticize the legacy of stagnation since the rule of Hafez al-Assad; Bashar al-Assad spoke about reform but carried out very little, and according to analysts he failed to deliver on promised reforms.
Bashar al-Assad's family, which has ruled Syria since 1970, is mixed: he himself is married to a Sunni woman, with whom he has several children. His parents belong to the minority Alawitereligious group, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that comprises an estimated 12 percent of the totalSyrian population. The Assad family has maintained tight control on Syria's security services, which allows the disgruntled to claim institutionalised descrimination against Sunni Muslims in Syria, a religious group that makes up about three-quarters of Syria's population. Ethnic minoritySyrian Kurds have also protested and complained over ethnic discrimination and denial of their cultural and language rights. Assad's younger brother Maher al-Assadcommands the army's elite Fourth Armoured Division,
ماهر الاسد
|8 December 1967
Damascus, Syria
|Syrian Arab Army
|Brigadier general
|Republican Guard
4th Armoured Division
|Syrian Civil War
|Manal al-Jadaan
|Hafez al-Assad (father)
Bushra al-Assad (sister)
Bassel al-Assad (brother)
Bashar al-Assad (brother)
Majd al-Assad (brother)
Jamil al-Assad (uncle)
Rifaat al-Assad (uncle)
and his brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, was the deputy minister of defense until the his assassination in the 18 July 2012 Damascus bombing.
آصف شوكت
|15 January 1950
Al-Madehleh, Tartus, Syria
|18 July 2012 (aged 62)
Damascus, Syria
|Syrian Regional Branch of theArab Socialist Ba'ath Party
|Bushra al-Assad
|Head of Military Intelligence(2005–2009)
Deputy Chief of Staff (2009–2011)
Deputy Minister of Defense(2011–2012)
|الفرقة الرابعة
T-72s, usually reinforced with Reactive armour, form the backbone of the division's firepower.
|1984 – present
|Syrian Government
|Syrian Army
|Armoured Division
|Shock troops
|~ 14,000
|T-72 tanks
Mil Mi-24
|Syrian uprising
|Maher al-Assad (de facto)
Maj. Gen. Mohamed Ali Durgham (de jure)
|Gen. Ghassan Belal
|Maher al-Assad (42nd Brigade)
Brig. Gen. Jawdat Ibrahim Safi(154th Regiment)
Brig. Gen. Jamal Yunes (555th Regiment)
Hayel al-Assad (Military Police Commander)
Kifah Moulhem
Discontent against the government was strongest in Syria's poor areas, predominantly among conservative Sunnis. These included cities with high poverty rates, such as Daraa andHoms and the poorer districts of large cities.
Socio-economic inequality increased significantly after free market policies were initiated by Hafez al-Assad in his later years, and accelerated after Bashar al-Assad came to power. With an emphasis on the service sector, these policies benefited a minority of the nation's population, mostly people who had connections with the government, and members of the Sunni merchant class of Damascus and Aleppo. The country also faced particularly high youth unemployment rates.
This coincided with the most intense drought ever recorded in Syria which lasted from 2007 to 2010 and that resulted in a widespread crop failure, increase in food prices and a mass migration of farming families to urban centers. Syria had also received in the same period around 1.5 million refugees from Iraq.
By 2011, Syria was facing steep rises in the prices of commodities and a clear deterioration in the national standard of living.
Human rights
The state of human rights in Syria has long been the subject of harsh criticism from global organizations. The country was under emergency rule from 1963 until 2011, banning public gatherings of more than five people, and effectively granting security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention. Bashar al-Assad is widely regarded as having been unsuccessful in implementing democratic change, with a 2010 report from Human Rights Watch stating that he had failed to substantially improve the state of human rights since taking power, although some minor aspects had seen improvement.
Rights of free expression, association and assembly were strictly controlled in Syria even before the uprising. The authorities harass and imprison human rights activists and other critics of the government, who are often indefinitely detained and tortured in poor prison conditions. Women and ethnic minorities have faced discrimination in the public sector. Thousands of Syrian Kurdswere denied citizenship in 1962 and their descendants continued to be labeled as "foreigners".A number of riots in 2004 prompted increased tension in Syria's Kurdish areas, and there have been occasional clashes between Kurdish protesters and security forces ever since.
Course of events
Protests, civil uprising, and defections (January–July 2011)
The protests started on 15 March 2011, when protesters marched in the capital of Damascus, demanding democratic reforms and the release of political prisoners. The security forces retaliated by opening fire on the protesters, and according to witnesses who spoke to the BBC, the government forces detained six of them. The protest was triggered by the arrest of a boy and his friends by the government for writing the graffiti, "The people want the fall of the regime", in the city of Daraa. Louai al-Hussein, an analyst and writer wrote that "Syria is now on the map of countries in the region with an uprising". On the 20th, the protesters burned down a Ba'ath Party headquarters and "other buildings". The ensuing clashes claimed the lives of seven police officers and 15 protesters. Ten days later in a speech, President Bashar al-Assad blamed "foreign conspirators" pushing Israeli propaganda for the protests.
The protesters' demands until 7 April were predominantly democratic reforms, release of political prisoners, more freedom, abolition of the emergency law and an end to corruption. After 8 April, the emphasis in demonstration slogans gradually shifted towards the call for overthrowing the Assad government. Protests spread: on Friday 8 April, they occurred simultaneously in ten cities. By Friday 22 April protests occurred in twenty cities. On 25 April, the Syrian Armystarted a series of large-scale deadly military attacks on towns, using tanks, infantry carriers, and artillery, leading to hundreds of civilian deaths. By the end of May 2011, 1,000 civilians and 150 soldiers and policemen had been killed and thousands detained; among the arrested were many students, liberal activists and human rights advocates.
Significant armed rebellion against the state began on 4 June in Jisr al-Shugur, a city in Idlib Governorate near the Turkish border, after security forces on a post office roof had fired at a funeral demonstration. Protesting mourners set fire to the building, killing eight security officers, and then overran a police station, seizing weapons from it. Violence continued and escalated over the following days. Unverified reports claim that a portion of the security forces in Jisr defected after secret police and intelligence officers executed soldiers who had refused to fire on civilians. Later, more protesters in Syria took up arms, and more soldiers defected to protect protesters.
Both sides in the conflict use propaganda to promote their side and denigrate their opponents (see Reporting, censoring and propaganda in the Syrian Civil War). By the end of July 2011, around 1,600 civilians and 500 security forces had been killed and 13,000 arrested.
Protests and armed insurgency (July–October 2011)
On 29 July 2011, seven defecting Syrian officers formed the Free Syrian Army(FSA), composed of defected Syrian Armed Forces officers and soldiers, aiming "to bring this regime (the Assad government) down" with united opposition forces. On 31 July, a nationwide crackdown nicknamed the "Ramadan Massacre" resulted in the death of at least 142 people and hundreds of injuries.
|Participant in the Syrian Civil War
Official logo of the Free Syrian Army
|29 July 2011–Present
|Brigadier General Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir
(Chief of Staff, 16 February 2014–present)
Brigadier General Salim Idris
(Chief of Staff, Dec. 2012 – 16 February 2014)
Colonel Riad al-Asaad
(Commander-in-Chief, Sept. 2011–present
symbolic role from Dec. 2012)
|45,000–60,000 (June 2015)
|National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces
On 23 August, a coalition of anti-government groups was formed, the Syrian National Council. The group, based in Turkey, attempted to organize the opposition. However, the opposition, including the FSA, remained a fractious collection of political groups, longtime exiles, grass-roots organizers and armed militants, divided along ideological, ethnic and/or sectarian lines.
Throughout August, Syrian forces stormed major urban centres and outlying regions, and continued to attack protests. On 14 August, the Siege of Latakiacontinued as the Syrian Navy became involved in the military crackdown for the first time. Gunboats fired heavy machine guns at waterfront districts in Latakia, as ground troops and security agents backed by armour stormed several neighbourhoods. The Eid ul-Fitr celebrations, which began at the end of August, were muted after security forces fired on protesters gathered in Homs, Daraa, and the suburbs of Damascus.
By September 2011, organized units of Syrian rebels were engaged in an active insurgency campaign in many different parts of Syria. A major confrontation between the FSA and the Syrian armed forces occurred in Rastan. From 27 September to 1 October, Syrian government forces, backed by tanks and helicopters, led a major offensive on the town of Al-Rastan in Homs Governorate, in order to drive out army defectors. The 2011 battle of Rastan between the government forces and the FSA was the longest and most intense action up until that time. After a week of fighting, the FSA was forced to retreat from Rastan. To avoid government forces, the leader of the FSA, Colonel Riad Asaad, retreated to Turkey. Many of the rebels fled to the nearby city of Homs.
By October, the FSA started to receive active support from Turkey, who allowed the rebel army to operate its command and headquartersfrom the country's southern Hatay Province close to the Syrian border, and its field command from inside Syria. The FSA would often launch attacks into Syria's northern towns and cities, while using the Turkish side of the border as a safe zone and supply route. A year after its formation, the FSA gained control over many towns close to the Turkish border.
In October 2011, clashes between government and defected army units were being reported fairly regularly. During the first week of the month, sustainedclashes were reported in Jabal al-Zawiya in the mountainous regions of Idlib Governorate. Syrian rebels captured most of Idlib city as well. In mid-October, clashes in Idlib Governorate included the city of Binnish and the town of Hass in the governorate near the mountain range of Jabal al-Zawiya. In late October, clashes occurred in the northwestern town of Maarrat al-Nu'man between government forces and defected soldiers at a roadblock on the edge of the town, and near the Turkish border, where 10 security agents and a deserter were killed in a bus ambush. It was not clear if the defectors linked to these incidents were connected to the FSA.
According to defectors, in 2011 the Syrian government intentionally released imprisoned Islamist militants and provided them with arms "in order to make itself the least bad choice for the international community, though the "claims could not be independently verified" of the one defector quoted, who "did not have documents supporting" the allegations."
On October 19, 2011 U.S. media reported that "large crowds of Syrians rallied in the northern city of Aleppo..in support of the government of President Bashar al-Assad" with the Syrian government estimating over a million pro-government demonstrators, while others estimated crowds to number at least in the "tens of thousands" with a similar sized pro-government rally "a week earlier in Damascus."
Escalation (November 2011 – March 2012)
In early November, clashes between the FSA and security forces in Homs escalated as the siege continued. After six days of bombardment, the Syrian Army stormed the city on 8 November, leading to heavy street fighting in several neighborhoods. Resistance in Homs was significantly greater than that seen in other towns and cities, and some in opposition have referred to the city as the "Capital of the Revolution". Unlike events in Deraa and Hama, operations in Homs have thus far failed to quell the unrest.
November and December 2011 saw increasing rebel attacks, as opposition forces grew in number. In the two months, the FSA launched deadly attacks on an air force intelligence complex in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, the Ba'ath Syrian Regional Branch youth headquarters in Idlib Governorate, Syrian Regional Branch offices in Damascus, an airbase in Homs Governorate, and an intelligence building in Idlib. On 15 December, opposition fighters ambushed checkpoints and military bases around Daraa, killing 27 soldiers, in one of the largest attacks yet on security forces. The opposition suffered a major setback on 19 December, when a failed defection in Idlib Governorate lead to 72 defectors killed.
In December 2011, former counter-terrorism specialist and CIA military intelligence officer Philip Giraldi asserted that already "unmarked NATO warplanes are arriving at Turkish military bases close to..the Syrian border, delivering weapons from the late Muammar Gaddafi's arsenals as well as volunteers from the Libyan Transitional National Council who are experienced in pitting local volunteers against trained soldiers" and that in addition, " French andBritish special forces trainers are on the ground, assisting the Syrian rebels while the CIA and U.S. Spec Ops are providing communications equipment and intelligence to assist the rebel cause." Giraldi stated that "CIA analysts are skeptical regarding the march to war" for reasons including that "the frequently cited U.N. report that more than 3,500 civilians have been killed by Assad's soldiers is based largely on rebel sources and is uncorroborated" while cautioning in The American Conservative that "Americans should be concerned about what is happening in Syria..it threatens to become another undeclared war like Libya but much, much worse."
In January 2012, Assad began using large-scale artillery operations against the insurgency, which led to the destruction of many civilian homes due to indiscriminate shelling.By this time, daily protests had dwindled, eclipsed by the spread of armed conflict. January saw intensified clashes around the suburbs of Damascus, with the Syrian Army use of tanks and artillery becoming common.Fighting in Zabadani began on 7 January when the Syrian Army stormed the town in an attempt to rout out FSA presence. After the first phase of the battle ended with a ceasefire on 18 January, leaving the FSA in control of the town, the FSA launched an offensive into nearby Douma. Fighting in the town lasted from 21 to 30 January, before the rebels were forced to retreat as result of a government counteroffensive. Although the Syrian Army managed to retake most of the suburbs, sporadic fighting continued. Fighting erupted in Rastan again on 29 January, when dozens of soldiers manning the town's checkpoints defected and began opening fire on troops loyal to the government. Opposition forces gained complete control of the town and surrounding suburbs on 5 February.
On 3 February, the Syrian Army launched a major offensive in Homs to retake rebel-held neighborhoods. In early March, after weeks of artillery bombardments and heavy street fighting, the Syrian Army eventually captured the district of Baba Amr, a major rebel stronghold. The Syrian Army also captured the district of Karm al-Zeitoun by 9 March, where activists said that government forces killed 47 women and children. By the end of March, the Syrian Army retook control of half a dozen districts, leaving them in control of 70 percent of the city. By 14 March, Syrian troops successfully ousted insurgents from the city of Idlib after days of fighting. By early April, the estimated death toll of the conflict, according to activists, reached 10,000.
Ceasefire attempt (April–May 2012)
Kofi Annan was acting as UN–Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria. His peace plan provided for a ceasefire, but even as the negotiations for it were being conducted, Syrian armed forces attacked a number of towns and villages, and summarily executed scores of people. Incommunicado detention, including of children, also continued. In April, Assad began employing attack helicoptersagainst rebel forces.
On 12 April, both sides, the Syrian Government and rebels of the FSA entered a UN-mediated ceasefire period. It was a failure, with infractions of the ceasefire by both sides resulting in several dozen casualties. Acknowledging its failure, Annan called for Iran to be "part of the solution", though the country has been excluded from the Friends of Syria initiative. The peace plan practically collapsed by early June and the UN mission was withdrawn from Syria. Annan officially resigned in frustration on 2 August 2012.
Renewed fighting (June–July 2012)
Following the Houla massacre of 25 May 2012, in which 108 people were summarily executed and the consequent FSA ultimatum to the Syrian government, the ceasefire practically collapsed, as the FSA began nationwide offensives against government troops. On 1 June, President Assad vowed to crush the anti-government uprising.
On 5 June, fighting broke out in Haffa and nearby villages in the coastal governorate of Latakia Governorate. Government forces were backed byhelicopter gunships in the heaviest clashes in the governorate since the revolt began. Syrian forces seized the territory following days of fighting and shelling. On 6 June 78 civilians were killed in the Al-Qubeir massacre. According to activist sources, government forces started by shelling the village before theShabiha militia moved in. The UN observers headed to Al-Qubeir in the hope of investigating the alleged massacre, but they were met with a roadblock and small arms fire and were forced to retreat.
On 12 June 2012, the UN for the first time officially proclaimed Syria to be in a state of civil war.[198] The conflict began moving into the two largest cities, Damascus and Aleppo. In both cities, peaceful protests – including a general strike by Damascus shopkeepers and a small strike in Aleppo were interpreted as indicating that the historical alliance between the government and the business establishment in the large cities had become weak.
On 22 June, a Turkish F-4 fighter jet was shot down by Syrian government forces, killing both pilots. Syria and Turkey disputed whether the jet had been flying in Syrian or international airspace when it was shot down. Despite Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's vows to retaliate harshly against Assad's government, no such intervention materialised. Bashar al-Assad publicly apologised for the incident. By 10 July, rebel forces had captured most of the city of Al-Qusayr, in Homs Governorate, after weeks of fighting. By mid-July, rebels had captured the town of Saraqeb, in Idlib Governorate.
Battles of Damascus and Aleppo (July–October 2012)
By mid-July 2012, with fighting spread across the country and 16,000 people killed, the International Committee of the Red Cross declared the conflict a civil war. Fighting in Damascus intensified, with a major rebel push to take the city. On 18 July, Syrian Defense MinisterDawoud Rajiha,
|In office
8 August 2011 – 18 July 2012
|Bashar al-Assad
|Adel Safar
Riyad Hijab
|Assef Shawkat
|Ali Habib Mahmud
|Fahd Jassem al-Freij
|In office
3 June 2009 – 8 August 2011
|Bashar al-Assad
|Ali Habib Mahmud
|Ali Habib Mahmud
|Fahd Jassem al-Freij
|Dawoud Abdallah Rajiha
Damascus, Syria
|18 July 2012 (aged 64–65)
Damascus, Syria
|Syrian Regional Branch of theArab Socialist Ba'ath Party
|Eastern Orthodox Christianity
|Syrian Arab Army
|Colonel General
|3rd Armoured Division, Artillery
|Yom Kippur War
Islamic uprising in Syria
Syrian occupation of Lebanon
1982 Lebanon War
Gulf War
Syrian civil war
former defense minister Hasan Turkmani, and the president's brother-in-law General Assef Shawkat were killed by asuicide bomb attack in Damascus. The Syrian intelligence chief Hisham Ikhtiyar, who was injured in the same explosion, later succumbed to his wounds. Both the FSA and Liwa al-Islam claimed responsibility for the assassination.
In late July, government forces managed to break the rebel offensive on Damascus, although fighting still continued in the outskirts. After this, the focus shifted to the battle for control of Aleppo. On 25 July, multiple sources reported that the Assad government was using fighter jets to attack rebel positions in Aleppo and Damascus, and on 1 August, UN observers in Syria witnessed government fighter jets firing on rebels in Aleppo. In early August, the Syrian Army recaptured Salaheddin district, an important rebel stronghold in Aleppo. In August, the government began using fixed-wing warplanes against the rebels.
On 19 July, Iraqi officials reported that the FSA had gained control of all four border checkpoints between Syria and Iraq, increasing concerns for the safety of Iraqis trying to escape the violence in Syria. On 19 September, rebel forces seized a border crossing between Syria and Turkey in Ar-Raqqah Governorate. It was speculated that this crossing could provide opposition forces with strategic and logistical advantages.
In late September, the FSA moved its command headquarters from southern Turkey into northern Syria. On 9 October, rebel forces seized control of Maarat al-Numan, a town in Idlib Governorate on the highway linking Damascus with Aleppo. By 18 October, the FSA had captured Douma, the biggest suburb of Damascus. Lakhdar Brahimi arranged for a ceasefire during Eid al-Adha in late October, but it quickly collapsed.
Clashes with Kurds (September 2012)
On 6 September 2012 Kurdish activists reported that 21 civilians were killed in the Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsud in Aleppo, when the Syrian Army shelled the local mosque and its surroundings. Despite the district being neutral during the Battle of Aleppo and free of government and FSA clashes, local residents believed that the district was shelled as retaliation for sheltering anti-government civilians from other parts of the city. In a statement released shortly after the deaths, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) vowed to retaliate. A few days later, Kurdish forces killed 3 soldiers in Afrin (Kurdish: Efrîn) and captured a number of other government soldiers in Ayn al-Arab(Kurdish:Kobanî) and Al-Malikiyah (Kurdish: Dêrika Hemko) from where they drove the remaining government security forces. It was also reported that the government had begun to arm Arab tribes around Qamishli in preparation for a possible confrontation with Kurdish forces, who still did not completely control the city.
At least 8 government soldiers were killed and 15 wounded by a car bomb in the al-Gharibi district of Qamishli on 30 September 2012. The explosion targeted the Political Security branch.
Rebel offensives (November 2012 – April 2013)
After Brahimi's ceasefire agreement ended on 30 October, the Syrian military expanded its aerial bombing campaign in Damascus. A bombing of the Damascus district of Jobar was the first instance of a fighter jet being used to bomb Damascus. The following day, Gen. Abdullah Mahmud al-Khalidi, a Syrian Air Force commander, was assassinated by opposition gunmen in the Damascus district of Rukn al-Din. In early November 2012, rebels made significant gains in northern Syria. The rebel capture of Saraqib in Idlib Governorate, which lies on the M5 highway, further isolated Aleppo. Due to insufficient anti-aircraft weapons, rebel units attempted to nullify the government's air power by destroying landed helicopters and aircraft on air bases. On 3 November, rebels launched an attack on theTaftanaz air base.
On 18 November, rebels took control of Base 46 in the Aleppo Governorate, one of the Syrian Army's largest bases in northern Syria, after weeks of intense fighting. Defected General Mohammed Ahmed al-Faj, who commanded the assault, stated that nearly 300 Syrian troops had been killed and 60 had been captured, with rebels seizing large amounts of heavy weapons, including tanks. On 22 November, rebels captured the Mayadeen military base in the country's eastern Deir ez-Zor Governorate. Activists said this gave the rebels control of a large amount of territory east of the base, stretching to the Iraqi border.On 29 November, at approximately 10:26 UTC, the Syrian Internet and phone service was shut off for a two-day period. Syrian government sources denied responsibility and blamed the blackout on fiber optic lines near Damascus becoming exposed and damaged; Edward Snowden in August 2014 claimed that this Internet breakdown had been caused, though unintendedly, by hackers of the NSA during an operation to intercept Internet communication in Syria.
In mid-December 2012, American officials said that the Syrian military had firedScud ballistic missiles at rebel fighters inside Syria. Reportedly, six Scud missiles were fired at the Sheikh Suleiman base north of Aleppo, which rebel forces had occupied. It is unclear whether the Scuds hit the intended target. The government denied this claim. Later that month, a further Scud attack took place near Marea, a town north of Aleppo near the Turkish border. The missile appeared to have missed its target. That same month, the British Daily Telegraphreported that the FSA had now penetrated into Latakia Governorate's coast through Turkey. In late December, rebel forces pushed further into Damascus, taking control of the adjoining Yarmouk and Palestine refugee camps, pushing out pro-government Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Commandfighters with the help of other factions. Rebel forces launched an offensive in Hama Governorate, later claiming to have forced army regulars to evacuate several towns and bases, and stating that "three-quarters of western rural Hama is under our control." Rebels also captured the town of Harem near the Turkish border in Idlib Governorate, after weeks of heavy fighting.
On 11 January 2013, Islamist groups, including al-Nusra Front, took full control of the Taftanaz air base in the Idlib Governorate, after weeks of fighting. The air base was often used by the Syrian military to carry out helicopter raids and deliver supplies. The rebels claimed to have seized helicopters, tanks and multiple rocket launchers, before being forced to withdraw by a government counter-attack. The leader of the al-Nusra Front said the amount of weapons they took was a "game changer". On 11 February, Islamist rebels captured the town of Al-Thawrah in Ar-Raqqah Governorate and the nearby Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam and a key source of hydroelectricity. The next day, rebel forces took control of Jarrah air base, located 60 kilometres (37 mi) east of Aleppo. On 14 February, fighters from al-Nusra Front took control of Shadadeh, a town in Al-Hasakah Governorate near the Iraqi border.
On 20 February, a car bomb exploded in Damascus near the Ba'ath Syrian Regional Branch headquarters, killing at least 53 people and injuring more than 235. None of the groups claimed responsibility. On 21 February, the FSA in Quasar began shelling Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. Prior to this, Hezbollah had been shelling villages near Quasar from within Lebanon. A 48-hour ultimatum was issued by a FSA commander on 20 February, warning the militant group to stop the attacks.
On 2 March, intense clashes between rebels and the Syrian Army erupted in the city of Raqqah, with many reportedly killed on both sides. On the same day, Syrian troops regained several villages near Aleppo. By 3 March, rebels had overrun Raqqah's central prison, allowing them to free hundreds of prisoners, according to the SOHR. The SOHR also stated that rebel fighters were now in control of most of an Aleppo police academy in Khan al-Asal, and that over 200 rebels and government troops had been killed fighting for control of it.
By 6 March, the rebels had captured the city of Raqqah, effectively making it the first provincial capital to be lost by the Assad government. Residents of Raqqah toppled a bronze statue of his late father Hafez Assad in the centre of the city. The rebels also seized two top government officials. On 18 March, the Syrian Air Force attacked rebel positions in Lebanon for the first time. The attack occurred at the Wadi al-Khayl Valley area, near the town of Arsal. On 21 March, a suspected suicide bombing in the Iman Mosque in Mazraa district killed as many as 41 people, including the pro-Assad Sunni cleric, Sheikh Mohammed al-Buti. On 23 March, several rebel groups seized the 38th division air defense base in southern Daraa Governorate near a highway linking Damascus to Jordan. On the next day, rebels captured a 25 km strip of land near the Jordanian border, which included the towns of Muzrib, Abdin, and the al-Rai military checkpoint.
On 25 March, rebels launched one of their heaviest bombardments of Central Damascus since the revolt began. Mortars reached Umayyad Square, where the Ba'ath Party headquarters, Air Force Intelligence and state television are located.On 26 March, near the Syrian town of al-Qusayr, rebel commander Khaled al Hamad, who commands the Al Farooq al-Mustakilla Brigade and is also known by his nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, ate the heart and liver of a dead soldier and said "I swear to God, you soldiers of Bashar, you dogs, we will eat from your hearts and livers! O heroes of Bab Amr, you slaughter the Alawites and take out their hearts to eat them!" in an apparent attempt to increase sectarianism. Video of the event emerged two months later and resulted in considerable outrage, especially from Human Rights Watch which classified the incident as a war crime. According to the BBC, it was one of the most gruesome videos to emerge from the conflict to-date. On 29 March, rebels captured the town of Da'el after fierce fighting. The town is located in Daraa Governorate, along the highway connecting Damascus to Jordan. On 3 April, rebels captured a military base near the city ofDaraa.
Renewed clashes with Kurds (January–April 2013)
On 2 January 2013, a bomb was detonated by unknown assailants in front of a Syrian government security office in Qamishli, wounding four members of the local security forces.
In mid-January, as clashes re-erupted between rebels and Kurdish separatists in Ras al-Ayn, YPG forces moved to expel government forces from oil-rich areas in Hassakeh Province. Clashes broke out from 14 to 19 January between the army and YPG fighters in the Kurdish village of Gir Zîro (Tall Adas), near al-Maabadah(Kurdish: Girkê Legê), where an army battalion of around 200 soldiers had been blockaded since 9 January. YPG forces claimed to have expelled government after the clashes. One soldier was reportedly killed and another eight injured, while seven were captured (later released) and 27 defected. Fighting at the oil field near Gir Zîro ended on 21 January, when government forces withdrew after receiving no assistance from Damascus. In Rumeilan, directly west of al-Maabadah, another 200 soldiers had been surrounded by YPG forces, and 10 soldiers were reported to have defected.
From 8 to 11 February, heavy clashes broke out between the YPG and government troops in the PYD/YPG-held district Ashrafiyah where, according to SOHR, at least 3 soldiers and 5 pro-government militiamen were killed. The fighting followed deadly shelling on 31 January on Ashrafiyah, in which 23 civilians were killed after FSA units moved into the Kurdish sector of Aleppo.According to its own reports, the YPG lost 7 of its members the fighting, while also claiming that 48 soldiers were killed and 22 captured,and a further 70 injured.
On 26 February, the Syrian Army once again shelled the PYD-held Kurdish sector of Aleppo, causing extensive damage to civilian areas. Five people were killed in the bombardment, and eleven more—including four children—were injured.
In the beginning of March, YPG forces took complete control of oil fields and installations in north-east Syria after government forces in it surrendered. During the same time YPG assaulted government forces and took control of town Tall ʿAdas, which is adjacent to Rumeilan oil fields, and also took control of Al-Qahtaniya (Kurdish: Tirbespî).
On 14 April 2013, government warplanes bombed the predominantly Kurdish village of Hadad, in Hasakah Governorate. 16 people were reported killed.
Government and Hezbollah offensives (April–June 2013)
On 17 April, government forces breached a six-month rebel blockade in Wadi al-Deif, near Idlib. Heavy fighting was reported around the town of Babuleen after government troops attempt to secure control of a main highway leading to Aleppo. The break in the siege also allowed government forces to resupply two major military bases in the region which had been relying on sporadic airdrops. On 18 April, the FSA took control of Al-Dab'a Air Base near the city of al-Qusayr. The base was being used primarily to garrison ground troops. Meanwhile, the Syrian Army re-captured the town of Abel. The SOHR said the loss of the town would hamper rebel movements between al-Qusayr and Homs city. The capture of the airport would have relieved the pressure on the rebels in the area, but their loss of Abel made the situation more complicated. The same day, rebels reportedly assassinated Ali Ballan, who was a government employee, in the Mazzeh district of Damascus.On 21 April, government forces captured the town of Jdaidet al-Fadl, near Damascus.
In April, government and Hezbollah forces launched an offensive to capture areas near al-Qusayr. On 21 April, pro-Assad forces captured the towns of Burhaniya, Saqraja and al-Radwaniya near the Lebanese border By this point, eight villages had fallen to the government offensive in the area. On 24 April, after five weeks of fighting, government troops re-took control of the town of Otaiba, east of Damascus, which had been serving as the main arms supply route from Jordan. Meanwhile, in the north of the country, rebels took control of a position on the edge of the strategic Mennagh Military airbase, on the outskirts of Aleppo. This allowed them to enter the airbase after months of besieging it.
On 2 May, government forces captured the town of Qaysa in a push north from the city's airport. Troops also retook the Wadi al-Sayeh central district of Homs, driving a wedge between two rebel strongholds. SOHR reported a massacre of over 100 people by the Syrian Army in the coastal town of Al Bayda, Baniyas. However, this could not be independently verified due to movement restrictions on the ground. Yet the multiple video images that residents said they had recorded – particularly of small children, were so shocking that even some government supporters rejected Syrian television's official version of events, that the army had simply "crushed a number of terrorists." On 3 May, the Syrian Army backed by the Shabiha reportedly committed a massacre of civilians near the city of Baniyas. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 50 people – and possibly as many as 100 – were killed and that dozens of villagers were still missing.
On 8 May, government forces captured the town of Khirbet Ghazaleh, situated along the highway to the Jordanian border. Over 1,000 rebel fighters withdrew from the town due to the lack of reinforcements and ammunition. The loss of the town also resulted in the reopening of the government supply-route to the city of Daraa. The rebels continued to withdraw from other towns so as to not face the Army's advance along the highway. On 11 May, the rebels managed to cut a newly build desert road used as an Army supply route between central Syria and Aleppo's airport. On 12 May, government forces took control of Khirbet Ghazaleh and secured the highway near the town. By mid-May, due to the recent Army gains in retaking strategically important locations, military analysts pointed out that the government would have a major advantage in any future peace talks. Analysts on both sides credited the government advances to the restructuring of their forces, which they filled with thousands of militia irregulars trained partly by Hezbollah and Iranian advisers in counter-insurgency operations. The government's success was also credited to the shift by the Army from trying to recapture the whole country to holding on to strategic areas.
On 13 May, government forces captured the towns of Western Dumayna, Haidariyeh, and Esh al-Warwar allowing them to block supplies to the rebels in al-Qusayr. On 16 May, rebels stated that they recaptured the town of Al-Qisa. On 17 May, rebels captured four villages in Eastern Hama, including the Alawite town of Tulaysiah. The villages were abandoned by their residents before the rebels arrived. On 19 May, government forces captured the town of Halfaya in Hama Governorate. The Syrian Army also launched its offensive against the town of Qusayr. A military source reported that the Army entered Qusayr, capturing the city center and the municipality building. One opposition activist denied this, but another confirmed the Army was in control of 60 percent of the city. During the day's fighting, Hezbollah commander Fadi al-Jazar was killed.
An opposition source said the attack was launched from the east and the south and that Hezbollah fighters took control of the town hall within a few hours. He added that the fighting was then concentrated in the northern part of the city. The attack appeared to surprise the rebels, who expected the army to push by the north on several rebel-controlled villages before attacking the city. The turning point of the offensive was reached when Hezbollah fighters took control of the Al Tal area overlooking Qusayr. Several rebel fighters accused some commanders from fleeing the Al Tal area at the last minute. Meanwhile, SOHR reported that the Syrian Army was at the area by the western neighborhood of al-Qusayr in order to lay siege on the city itself. On 23 May, rebels captured a military base near the town of Nairab. By 29 May, government forces captured the al-Dabaa air base, north of al-Qusayr. On 1 and 2 June, after heavy fighting, the Syrian Army recaptured three of the Alawite villages that had been previously captured by the rebels in Eastern Hama Governorate. On 5 June, rebel forces withdrew fully from al-Qusayr.[303] The following day, government forces captured the nearby village of Dabaa.
On 6 June, rebels temporarily captured the Quneitra border crossing which links the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights with Syria. However, the same day, government forces counter-attacked with tanks and armoured personnel carriers, recapturing the crossing. On 7 June, Syrian troops backed by Hezbollah captured two villages north of al-Qusayr: Salhiyeh and Masoudiyeh. The next day, they captured the village of Buwaydah, the last rebel-held village in the al-Qusayr region. Between 7 and 14 June, Army troops, government militiamen, and Hezbollah fighters launched operations in Aleppo Governorate. Over a one-week period, government forces had advanced both in Aleppo city and the countryside around the city. However, on 14 June, according to an opposition activist, the tide had started reversing, after rebels managed to halt an armoured reinforcement column from Aleppo city for two government-held Shiite villages northwest of the city. Rebels claimed they destroyed one tank and killed 20 government soldiers northwest of the town of Maaret al-Arteek. Before the column was stopped, government forces had captured the high ground at Maaret al-Arteek, threatening rebel positions. Government forces also made some advances in the southern part of Aleppo Governorate, capturing the village of Ain-Assan.During the fighting in Aleppo city itself, on 13 June, government forces managed to temporarily advance into the rebel-held Sakhour district from two directions, but were soon repelled. Some described it as possibly a probing attack and not a full assault.
On 10 June, Shia pro-government fighters from the village of Hatla, east of Deir al-Zour, attacked a nearby rebel position, killing four rebels. The next day, in retaliation for the attack, thousands of rebels attacked and captured the village, killing 60 residents, fighters and civilians, according to SOHR. 10 rebel fighters were killed during the attack. At dawn on 13 June, rebels seized an Army position on the northern edge of the town of Morek, which is located on the north-south highway, in fighting that killed six soldiers and two rebels. Later in the day, the Army shelled the base and sent reinforcements. On 14 June, the al-Nusra Front captured a military barracks near Idlib city. On 15 June, the Syrian Army captured the Damascus suburb of Ahmadiyeh near the city's airport. Rebels said fighting began after rebels entered the town to use it as a position to launch mortars on the Damascus airport. They added that fighting was ongoing. On 22 June, the Syrian Army captured the rebel stronghold town of Talkalakh. Four days later, the Army captured the town of Al-Qariatayn, also in Homs Governorate.
Continued fighting (July–October 2013)
On 28 June, rebel forces captured a major military checkpoint in the city of Daraa. On 12 July FSA reported that one of its commanders, Kamal Hamami, had been killed by Islamists a day before. The rebels declared that the assassination by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, was tantamount to a declaration of war. On 17 July, FSA forces took control of most of the southern city of Nawaafter seizing up to 40 army posts stationed in the city. On 18 July, Kurdish YPG forces secured control of the northern town of Ras al-Ain, after days of fighting with the al-Nusra Front. In the following three months, continued fighting between Kurdish and mainly jihadist rebel forces led to the capture of two dozen towns and villages in Hasakah Governorate by Kurdish fighters, while the Jihadists made limited gains in Aleppo and Raqqah governorates after they turned on the Kurdish rebel group Jabhat al-Akrad over its relationship with the YPG. In Aleppo Governorate, Islamists massacred the Kurds leading to a mass migration of civilians to the town of Afrin.[
On 22 July, FSA fighters seized control of the western Aleppo suburb of Khan al-Asal. The town was the last government stronghold in the western portion of Aleppo Governorate. On 25 July, the Syrian Army secured the town of al-Sukhnah, after expelling the al-Nusra Front. On 27 July, after weeks of fighting and bombardment in Homs, the Syrian Army captured the historic Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque, and two days later, captured the district of Khaldiyeh.
Khaled EbnEl-Walid is an Arabic Hero. He was a great leader of Muslems in their old battles. The Mosque in Homs/Syria is the place of his buried body.
On 4 August, around 10 rebel brigades, launched a large-scale offensive on the government stronghold of Latakia Governorate. Initial attacks by 2,000 opposition members seized as many as 12 villages in the mountainous area. Between 4 and 5 August 20 rebels and 32 government soldiers and militiamen had been killed in the clashes. Hundreds of Alawite villagers fled to Latakia. By 5 August, rebel fighters advanced to 20 kilometers from Qardaha, the home town of the Assad family. However, in mid-August, the military counter-attacked and recaptured all of the territory previously lost to the rebels in the coastal region during the offensive. A Syrian security force source "told AFP the army still had to recapture the Salma region, a strategic area along the border with Turkey." According to a Human Rights Watch report 190 civilians were killed by rebel forces during the offensive, including at least 67 being executed. Another 200 civilians, primarily women and children, were taken hostage.
On 6 August, rebels captured Menagh Military Airbase after a 10-month siege. The strategic airbase is located on the road between Aleppo city and the Turkish border. On 21 August, a chemical attack took place in the Ghouta region of the Damascus countryside, leading to thousands of casualties and several hundred dead in the opposition-held stronghold. The attack was followed by a military offensive by government forces into the area, which had been hotbeds of the opposition. On 24 August, rebels captured the town of Ariha. However, government forces recaptured Ariha on 3 September. On 26 August, rebel forces took over the town of Khanasir in Aleppo Governorate which was the government's last supply route for the city of Aleppo. On 8 September, rebels led by the al-Nusra Front captured the Christian town of Maaloula, 43 km north of Damascus, The Syrian Army launched a counterattack a few days later, recapturing the town.
On 18 September, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) overran the FSA-held town of Azaz in the north. The fighting was the most severe since tensions rose between militant factions in Syria earlier in the year. Soon after ISIS captured Azaz, a ceasefire was announced between the rival rebel groups. However, in early October, more fighting erupted in the town. On 20 September, Alawite militias including the NDF killed 15 civilians in the Sunni village of Sheik Hadid in Hama Governorate. The massacre occurred in retaliation for a rebel capture of the village of Jalma, in Hama, which killed five soldiers, along with the seizure of a military checkpoint which killed 16 soldiers and 10 NDF militiamen. In mid-September, the military captured the towns of Deir Salman and Shebaa on the outskirts of Damascus. The Army also captured six villages in eastern Homs. Fighting broke out in those towns again in October.
On 28 September, rebels seized the Ramtha border post in Daraa Governorate on the Syria Jordan crossing after fighting which left 26 soldiers dead along with 7 foreign rebel fighters. On 3 October, AFP reported that Syria's army re-took the town of Khanasir, which is located on a supply route linking central Syria to the city of Aleppo.On 7 October, the Syrian Army managed to reopen the supply route between Aleppo and Khanasir.
On 9 October, rebels seized the Hajanar guard post on the Jordanian border after a month of fierce fighting. Rebels were now in control of a swath of territory along the border from outside of Daraa to the edge of Golan Heights. The same day, Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiite fighters, backed up by artillery, air-strikes and tanks, captured the town of Sheikh Omar, on the southern outskirts of Damascus. Two days later, they also captured the towns of al-Thiabiya and Husseiniya on the southern approaches to Damascus. The capture of the three towns strengthened the government hold on major supply lines and put more pressure on rebels under siege in the Eastern Ghouta area. On 14 October, SOHR reported that rebels captured the Resefa and Sinaa districts of Deir ez-Zor city, as well as Deir ez-Zor's military hospital.
Government and Hezbollah offensives (October–December 2013)
The Syrian Army along with its allies, Hezbollah and the al-Abas brigade, launched an offensive on Damascus and Aleppo. On 16 October, AFP reported that Syrian troops recaptured the town of Bweida, south of Damascus. On 17 October, the Syrian government's head of Military Intelligence in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, Jameh Jameh, was assassinated by rebels in Deir ez-Zor city. SOHR reported that he had been shot by a rebel sniper during a battle with rebel brigades. On 24 October, the Syrian Army retook control of the town of Hatetat al-Turkman, located southeast of Damascus, along the Damascus International Airport road.
On 26 October, Kurdish rebel fighters seized control of the strategic Yarubiya border crossing between Syria and Iraq from al-Nusra in Al Hasakah Governorate. Elsewhere, in Daraa Governorate, rebel fighters captured the town of Tafas from government forces after weeks of clashes which left scores dead. On 1 November, the Syrian Army retook control of the key city of Al-Safira and the next day, the Syrian Army and its allies recaptured the village of Aziziyeh on the northern outskirts of Al-Safira. From early to mid-November, Syrian Army forces captured several towns south of Damascus, including Hejeira and Sbeineh. Government forces also recaptured the town of Tel Aran, southeast of Aleppo, and a military base near Aleppo's international airport.
On 10 November, the Syrian Army had taken full control of "Base 80", near Aleppo's airport. According to the SOHR, 63 rebels, and 32 soldiers were killed during the battle. One other report put the number of rebels killed between 60 and 80.Army units were backed-up by Hezbollah fighters and pro-government militias during the assault. The following day, government forces secured most of the area around the airport. On 13 November, government forces captured most of Hejeira. Rebels retreated from Hejeira to Al-Hajar al-Aswad. However, their defenses in besieged districts closer to the heart of Damascus were still reportedly solid. On 15 November, the Syrian Army retook control of the city of Tell Hassel near Aleppo. On 18 November, the Syrian troops stormed the town of Babbila. On 19 November, government forces took full control of Qara. The same day, the Syrian Army captured al-Duwayrinah. On 23 November, al-Nusra Front and other Islamist rebels captured the al-Omar oil field, Syria's largest oil field, in Deir al-Zor Governorate causing the government to rely almost entirely on imported oil. On 24 November, rebels captured the towns of Bahariya, Qasimiya, Abbadah, and Deir Salman in Damascus's countryside. On 28 November, the Syrian Army recaptured Deir Attiyeh.
On 2 December, rebels led by the Free Syrian Army recaptured the historic Christian town of Ma'loula. After the fighting, reports emerged that 12 nuns had been abducted by the rebels. However, the FSA disputes this and said that the nuns had been evacuated to the nearby rebel held town of Yabrud due to the Army shelling. In early December, the Islamic Front seized control of Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, which had been in hands of FSA.The groups also captured warehouses containing equipment delivered by the U.S. In response, the U.S. and Britain said they halted all non-lethal aid to the FSA, fearing that further supplies could fall in hands of al-Qaeda militants. On 9 December, the Army took full control of Nabek, with fighting continuing in its outskirts.
Fighting between ISIS and other rebel groups (January–March 2014)
Tension between moderate rebel forces and ISIS had been high since ISIS captured the border town of Azaz from FSA forces on 18 September 2013. Conflict was renewed over Azaz in early October and in late November ISIS captured the border town of Atme from an FSA brigade. On 3 January 2014, the Army of the Mujahideen, the Free Syrian Army and the Islamic Front launched an offensive against ISIS in Aleppo and Idlib governorates. A spokesman for the rebels said that rebels attacked ISIS in up to 80% of all ISIS held villages in Idlib and 65% of those in Aleppo.
By 6 January, opposition rebels managed to expel ISIS forces from the city of Raqqah, ISIS's largest stronghold and capital of the Raqqah Governorate. On 8 January, opposition rebels expelled most ISIS forces from the city of Aleppo, however ISIS reinforcements from the Deir ez-Zor Governorate managed to retake several neighborhoods of the city of Raqqah. By mid January ISIS retook the entire city of Raqqah, while rebels expelled ISIS fighters fully from Aleppo city and the villages west of it.
On 29 January, Turkish aircraft near the border fired on an ISIS convoy inside the Aleppo province of Syria, killing 11 ISIS fighters and 1 ISIS emir. In late January it was confirmed that rebels had assassinated ISIS's second in command, Haji Bakr, who was al-Qaeda's military council head and a former military officer in Saddam Hussein's army.By mid-February, the al-Nusra Front joined the battle in support of rebel forces, and expelled ISIS from the Deir Ezzor Governorate. By March, the ISIS forces fully retreated from the Idlib Governorate. On 4 March, ISIS retreated from the border town of Azaz and other nearby villages, choosing instead to consolidate around Raqqah in an anticipation of an escalation of fighting with al-Nusra.
Continued government and Hezbollah offensive (March 2014)
On 4 March, the Syrian Army took control of Sahel in the Qalamoun region. On 8 March, government forces took over Zara, in Homs Governorate, further blocking rebel supply routes from Lebanon. On 11 March, Government forces andHezbollah took control of the Rima Farms region, directly facing Yabrud. On 16 March, Hezbollah and government forces captured Yabrud, after Free Syrian Army fighters made an unexpected withdrawal, leaving the al-Nusra Front to fight in the city on its own. On 18 March, Israel used artillery against a Syrian Army base, after four of its soldiers had been wounded by a roadside bomb while patrolling Golan Heights.
On 19 March, the Syrian Army captured Ras al-Ain near Yabrud, after two days of fighting and al-Husn in Homs Governorate, while rebels in the Daraa Governorate captured Daraa prison, and freed hundreds of detainees. On 20 March, the Syrian Army took control of the Krak des Chevaliers in al-Husn. On 29 March, Syrian Army took control of the villages of Flitah and Ras Maara near the border with Lebanon.
Continued fighting (March–May 2014)
On 22 March, rebels took control of the Kesab border post in the Latakia Governorate. By 23 March, rebels had taken most of Khan Sheikhoun in Hama. During clashes near the rebel-controlled Kesab border post in Latakia, Hilal Al Assad, NDF leader in Latakia and one of Bashar Al Assad's cousins was killed by rebel fighters. On 4 April, rebels captured the town of Babulin, Idlib. On 9 April, the Syrian Army took control of Rankous in the Qalamoun region. On 12 April, rebels in Aleppo stormed the government-held Ramouseh industrial district in an attempt to cut the Army supply route between the airport and a large Army base. The rebels also took the Rashidin neighbourhood and parts of the Jamiat al-Zahra district.On 26 April, the Syrian Army took control of Al-Zabadani. According to SOHR, rebels took control of Tell Ahrmar, Quneitra. Rebels in Daraa also took over Brigade 61 Base and the 74th battalion.
On 26 April, the FSA announced they had begun an offensive against ISIS in the Raqqah Governorate, and had seized five towns west of Raqqah city. On 29 April, activists said that the Syrian Army captured Tal Buraq near the town of Mashara in Quneitra without any clashes. On 7 May, a truce went into effect in the city of Homs, SOHR reported. The terms of the agreement include safe evacuation of Islamist fighters from the city, which would then fall under government control, in exchange for release of prisoners and safe passage of humanitarian aid for Nubul and Zahraa, two Shiite enclaves besieged by the rebels. On 18 May, the head of Syria's Air Defense, General Hussein Ishaq, died of wounds sustained during a rebel attack on an air defense base near Mleiha the previous day. In Hama Governorate, rebel forces took control of the town of Tel Malah, killing 34 pro-Assad fighters at an army post near the town. Its seizure marked the third time rebels have taken control of the town.
Presidential election (June 2014)
Syria held a presidential election in government-held areas on 3 June 2014. For the first time in the history of Syria more than one person was allowed to stand as a presidential candidate.More than 9,000 polling stations were set up in government-held areas. According to the Supreme Constitutional Court of Syria, 11.63 million Syrians voted (the turnout was 73.42%). President Bashar al-Assadwon the election with 88.7% of the votes. As for Assad's challengers, Hassan al-Nouri received 4.3% of the votes andMaher Hajjar received 3.2%.Allies of Assad from more than 30 countries were invited by the Syrian government to follow the presidential election, including Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Iran, Iraq, Nicaragua, Russia, South Africa and Venezuela. The Iranian official Alaeddin Boroujerdi read a statement by the group saying the election were "free, fair and transparent". The Gulf Cooperation Council, the European Union and the United States all dismissed the election as illegitimate and a farce.
State employees were told to vote or face interrogation. On the ground there were no independent monitors stationed at the polling stations.
It is claimed in an opinion piece that as few as 6 million eligible voters remained in Syria.Due to rebel, Kurdish and ISIS control of Syrian territories there was no voting in roughly 60% of the country.
ISIL offensives and U.S. airstrikes (June 2014 – January 2015)
Starting on 5 June, ISIL seized swathes of territory in Iraq in addition to heavy weapons and equipment from the Iraqi Army, some of which they brought into Syria. Government airstrikes targeted ISIL bases in Ar-Raqqah and Al-Hasakah in coordination with an Iraqi Army counteroffensive. On 14 June, government forces retook the town of Kessab in northern Latakia Governorate, while rebels took over Tall al-Gomo near the town of Nawa in the Daraa Governorate, as well as reentering the Qalamoun area.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, on 17 July ISIL took control of the Shaar oil field, killing 90 pro-government forces while losing 21 fighters. In addition, 270 guards and government-aligned fighters were missing. About 30 government persons managed to escape to the nearby Hajjar field. On 20 July, the Syrian Army secured the field, although fighting continued in its outskirts. On 25 July, the Islamic State took control of the Division 17 base near Raqqah.
On 7 August, ISIL took the Brigade 93 base in Raqqah using weapons captured from their offensive in Iraq. Multiple suicide bombs also went off before the base was stormed.On 13 August, ISIL forces took the towns of Akhtarin and Turkmanbareh from rebels in Aleppo. ISIL forces also took a handful of nearby villages. The other towns seized include Masoudiyeh, Dabiq and Ghouz.
On 14 August, the Free Syrian Army commander Sharif As-Safouri admitted working with Israel and receiving anti-tank weapons from Israel and FSA soldiers also received medical treatment inside Israel. On 14 August, the Syrian Army as well as Hezbollah militias retook the town of Mleiha in Rif Dimashq Governorate. The Supreme Military Council of the FSA denied claims of Mleiha's seizure, rather the rebels have redeployed from recent advances to other defensive lines. Mleiha has been held by the Islamic Front. Rebels had used the town to fire mortars on government held areas inside Damascus.
Meanwhile, ISIL forces in Raqqah were launching a siege on Tabqa airbase, the Syrian government's last military base in Raqqah. Kuwaires airbase in Aleppo also came under fierce attack by ISIL. On 16 August, there were reports that 22 people were killed in the village of Daraa by a car bomb outside a mosque. The bomb was thought to be detonated by ISIS. Also on 16 August, the Islamic State seized the village of Beden in Aleppo Governorate from rebels.
On 17 August, SOHR said that in the past two weeks ISIL jihadists had killed over 700 tribal members in oil-rich Deir ez-Zor Governorate.
On 19 August, a senior figure in ISIL who had helped prepare and plan car and suicide bombs across Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq was killed. Some reports said that he was killed by Hezbollah fighters. There were also several reports that he was killed by the Syrian Army in the Qalamoun region, near the border with Lebanon.
On 19 August, American journalist James Foley was executed by ISIL,
Foley in 2011.
|James Wright Foley
October 18, 1973
Evanston, Illinois, U.S.
|c. August 19, 2014 (aged 40)
Ar-Raqqah, Syria
|Murder by decapitation
who claimed it was in retaliation for the United States operations in Iraq. Foley was kidnapped in Syria in November 2012 by Shabiha militia. ISIL also threatened to execute Steven Sotloff, who was kidnapped at the Syrian-Turkish border in August 2013. There were reports ISIS captured a Japanese national, two Italian nationals, and a Danish national as well. At least 70 journalists have been killed covering the Syrian war, and more than 80 kidnapped, according to theCommittee to Protect Journalists.
|Steven Joel Sotloff
May 11, 1983
Miami, Florida, U.S.
|August 4, 2013
Aleppo, Syria
|c. September 2, 2014(aged 31)
Syrian desert
|United States, Israel
|Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya
On 22 August, the al-Nusra Front released a video of captured Lebanese soldiers and demanded that Hezbollah withdraw from Syria under threat of their execution.
On 23 August, the Tabqa airbase was no longer encircled by ISIL fighters and the Syrian Army had taken back the M-42 Highway from ISIL fighters, which leads to the city ofSalamiyah in the Hama Governorate. Also in Raqqah, the Syrian Army took control of the town of Al-Ejeil. ISIL reportedly sent reinforcements from Iraq to the governorate of Raqqah. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 400 ISIL fighters had also been wounded in the previous five days in clashes with the Syrian Army and National Defence Force in Raqqah alone. At the same time, Several senior UK and US figures urged Turkey to stop allowing ISIL to cross the border to Syria and Iraq.
On the following day, the Islamic State seized Tabqa airbase from government forces. The battle for the base left 346 ISIL fighters and 195 soldiers dead. Prisoners taken by ISIL forces were executed and a video from the mass killing was posted on YouTube. The death toll varied from 120 to 250.
On 26 August, the Syrian Air Force carried out airstrikes against ISIL targets in the Governorate of Deir ez-Zor. This was the first time the Syrian Army attacked them in Deir ez-Zoras the Syrian Army pulled out of Raqqah and shifted to Deir ez-Zor in a bid to seize its oil and natural gas resources as well as strategically splitting ISIL territories.
American jets began bombing ISIL in Syria on 23 September 2014, raising U.S. involvement in the war-torn country. At least 20 targets in and around Raqqah were hit, the opposition group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Foreign partners participating in the strikes with the United States were Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan. The U.S. and "partner nation forces" began striking ISIL targets using fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said.
U.S. aircraft include B-1 bombers, F-16s, F-18s and Predator drones, with F-18s flying missions off the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) in the Persian Gulf.Tomahawk missileswere fired from the destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) in the Red Sea. Syria's Foreign Ministry told the Associated Press that the U.S. informed Syria's envoy to the U.N. that "strikes will be launched against the terrorist group in Raqqah" The United States informed the Free Syrian Army beforehand of the impending airstrikes, and the rebels said that weapons transfers to the Free Syrian Army had begun.
The United States also attacked a specific faction of al-Nusra called theKhorasan Group, who according to the United States had training camps and plans for attacking the United States in the future.
For its part, Turkey launched an official request to the U.N. for a no-fly zone over Syria.
The same day, Israel shot down a Syrian warplane after it entered the Golan area from Quneitra.
By 3 October, ISIL forces were heavily shelling the city of Kobanî and were within a kilometer of the town.
Within 36 hours from 21 October, the Syrian air force carried out over 200 airstrikes on rebel-held areas across Syria and US and Arab jets attacked IS positions around Kobanî. Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the YPG forces in Kobanî had been provided with military and logistical support. Syria reported that its air force had destroyed two fighter jets being operated by IS.
By 26 January, the Kurdish YPG forced ISIL forces in Kobanî to retreat, thus fully recapturing the city. The U.S. confirmed that the city had been cleared of ISIL forces on 27 January, and ISIL admitted defeat in Kobanî city three days later, although they vowed to return.
The Southern Front (October 2014 – February 2015)
In February 2014, the Southern Front of the Free Syrian Army formed in southern Syria. Six months later, they started a string of victories in Daraa and Quneitra during the 2014 Quneitra offensive, the Daraa offensive, the Battle of Al-Shaykh Maskin, the Battle of Bosra (2015) and the Battle of Nasib Border Crossing. A government counter-offensive (the2015 Southern Syria offensive) during this period, that included the IRGC and Hezbollah, recaptured 15 towns, villages and hills, but the operation slowed soon after and stalled.
Since early 2015, opposition military operations rooms based in Jordan and Turkey began increasing cooperation, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar also reportedly agreeing upon the necessity to unite opposition factions against the Syrian government.
Northern Al-Nusra Front and Islamist takeover (October 2014 – March 2015)
In late October 2014, a conflict erupted between the al-Nusra Front on one side and the western-backed SRF and Hazzm Movement on the other (Al-Nusra Front–SRF/Hazzm Movement conflict). ISIL reportedly reinforced al-Nusra. By the end of February 2015 al-Nusra had defeated both groups, captured the entire Zawiya Mountain region in Idlib province and several towns and military bases in other governorates, and seized weapons supplied by the CIA to the two moderate groups. The significant amount of weapons seized included a small number ofBGM-71 anti-tank missiles similar to weapons systems al-Nusra Front had previously captured from government stockpiles such as French MILANs, ChineseHJ-8s and Russian 9K111 Fagots.Reuters reported that this represented al-Nusra crushing pro-Western rebels in the north of the country.According to FSA commanders in northern Syria, however, the elimination of Harakat Hazm and the SRF was a welcome development due to the leaders of those factions allegedly involved in corruption. The Western-backed 30th Division of the FSA remained active elsewhere in Idlib.
By 24 March 2015 the al-Nusra Front dominated most of Idlib province, except for the government-held provincial capital, Idlib, which they had encircled on three sides along with its Islamist allies. On 28 March a joint coalition of Islamist forces, the Army of Conquest, captured Idlib. This left the north largely taken over byAhrar ash-Sham, al-Nusra Front and other Islamist rebels, with the south of the country becoming the last significant foothold for the mainstream, non-jihadist opposition fighters.
Army of Conquest advances in Idlib (April 2015 – June 2015)
On 22 April, a new rebel offensive was launched in the north-west of Syria and by 25 April, the rebel coalition Army of Conquest had captured the city of Jisr al-Shughur. At the end of the following month, the rebels also seized the Al-Mastumah military base,and Ariha, leaving government forces in control of tiny pockets of Idlib, including the Abu Dhuhur military airport. In addition, according to Charles Lister (Brookings Doha Center), the Army of Conquest coalition was a broad opposition effort to ensure that the Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front was contained, with the rearguard involvement of Western-backed factions being regarded as crucial. Still, according to some, the FSA in northern Syria had by this point all but dissipated. Many of the moderate fighters joined more extremist organizations, such as Ahrar ash-Sham, the largest faction in the Army of Conquest, which led to the subsequent rise of the Islamist Army of Conquest coalition.
Rebel advances led to government and Hezbollah morale plunging dramatically.[519] In north-west Syria these losses were countered by a Hezbollah-led offensive in the Qalamoun mountains north of Damascus, on the border with Lebanon, that gave Hezbollah effective control of the entire area.
Resurgent ISIL advance (May 2015 – September 2015)
On 21 May, ISIL took control of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, after eight days of fighting. The jihadists also captured the nearby towns of Al-Sukhnah and Amiriya, as well as several oil fields. Following the capture of Palmyra, ISIL conducted mass executions in the area, killing an estimated 217–329 government civilian supporters and soldiers, according to opposition activists. Government sources put the number of killed at 400–450.
By early June, ISIL reached the town of Hassia, which lies on the main road from Damascus to Homs and Latakia, and reportedly took up positions to the west of it, creating a potential disaster for the government and raising the threat of Lebanon being sucked further into the war.
On 25 June, ISIL launched two offensives. One was a surprise diversionary attack on Kobanî, while the second targeted government-held parts of Al-Hasakah city. The ISIL offensive on Al-Hasakah displaced 60,000 people, with the UN estimating a total of 200,000 would be displaced.
In July 2015, a raid by U.S. special forces on a compound housing the Islamic State's "chief financial officer", Abu Sayyaf, produced evidence that Turkishofficials directly dealt with ranking ISIS members.
ISIS captured Qaryatayn city from the government on 5 August 2015.
Australia joined the bombing of ISIL in Syria in mid September, an extension of their efforts in Iraq for the last year.
Russian intervention and government offensive (30 September 2015 – mid-November 2015)
Russian Navy | Russian Aerospace Forces | Group Special forces
On 30 September 2015, the Russian Aerospace Forces, at an official request by the Syrian government headed by President Bashar al-Assad, began air strikes against both ISIL and the anti-Assad FSA.Russia claimed that the airstrike destroyed several local headquarters, ammunition storage, logistic infrastructure of IS and anti-Assad forces and about 3,000 militants from Islamic State, al-Nusra and Jaish al-Yarmouk according to Russian sources have retreated to Jordan to avoid possible air strikes.
On 5 October 2015, newsmedia reports suggested that over 40 Syrian anti-government groups, including factions such as Ahrar ash-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam and the Levant Front, vowed to attack Russian forces in retaliation for Moscow's air campaign. Meanwhile, CNN reports claimed U.S. president Barack Obama had a few days prior authorized the resupply of Syrian Kurds and the Arab-Syrian opposition, the President emphasizing to his team that the U.S. would continue to support the Syrian opposition now that Russia had joined the conflict.
On 7 October 2015, Russian officials claimed the ships of the Caspian Flotilla had earlier that day fired 26 sea-based cruise missiles at 11 ISIL targets in Syria destroying those and causing no civilian casualties. On the same day, the Syrian government′s ground forces launched aground offensive that in the following few days succeeded in recapturing some territory in northern Hama Governorate, close to the government's coastal heartland in the west of the country.
On 8 October 2015, the U.S. officially announced the end of the Pentagon's $500 million program to train and equip Syrian rebels in an acknowledgment that the program had failed (other covert and significantly larger CIA programs to arm anti-government fighters in Syria continue.
On October 9, France engaged in bombing ISIL targets, possibly killing some French jihadists.
Two weeks after the start of the Russian campaign in Syria, The New York Timesopined that with anti-government commanders receiving for the first time bountiful supplies of U.S.-made antitank missiles and with Russia raising the number of airstrikes against the government's opponents that had raised morale in both camps, broadening war objectives and hardening political positions, the conflict was turning into an all-out proxy war between the U.S. and Russia.
Despite multiple top-ranking casualties incurred by the Iranian forces in Syria, in mid-October the Russian-Syrian-Iranian-Hezbollah offensive targeting rebels in Aleppo went ahead.
At the end of October 2015, the U.S. defence minister Ashton Carter signalled a shift in the strategy of the U.S.-led campaign saying there will be more air strikes and ruling in the use of direct ground raids, the fight in Syria concentrating mostly on Raqqah.
On 30 October and two weeks later, Syria peace talks were held in Vienna, intitiated by the U.S., Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, in which on 30 October Iranparticipated for the first time in negotiations on Syrian settlement. The participants disagreed on the future of Bashar Assad.
On 10 November 2015, the Syrian government forces completed the operation to break through the Islamic State insurgents′ blockade of the Kweires air base in Aleppo Province, where government forces had been under siege since April 2013.
Foreign escalation (since mid-November 2015)
In mid-November 2015, in the wake of the Russian plane bombing over Sinai and the Paris attacks, both Russia and France significantly intensified their strikes in Syria, France closely coordinating with the U.S. military. On 17 November, Putin said he had issued orders for the Moskva cruiser that had been in eastern Mediterranean since the start of the Russian operations to "work as with an ally", with the French naval group led by flagship Charles De Gaulle that had been on its way to eastern Mediterranean since early November.Shortly afterwards, a Russian foreign ministry official criticised France′s stridently anti-Assad stance as well as France′s air strikes at oil and gas installations in Syria as apparently designed to prevent those from returning under the Syrian government′s control; the Russian official pointed out that such strikes by France could not be justified as they were carried out without the Syrian government′s consent. In his remarks to a French delegation that included French parliamentarians, on 14 November, President Bashar Assad sharply criticised France′s as well as other Western States′ actions against the Syrian government suggesting that French support for Syrian opposition forces had led to the Islamic State-claimed attacks in Paris.
On 19 November 2015, U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking of the Vienna process, said he was unable to "foresee a situation in which we can end the civil war in Syria while Assad remains in power"; he urged Russia and Iran to stop supporting the Syrian government.
On 20 November 2015, the UN Security Council, while failing to invoke the UN'sChapter VII, which gives specific legal authorisation for the use of force, unanimously passed a resolution that urged UN members to "redouble and coordinate their efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by ISIL also known as Da'esh as well as ANF, and all other individuals, groups, undertakings, and entities associated with Al-Qaida, and other terrorist groups, as designated by the United Nations Security Council, and as may further be agreed by the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) and endorsed by the UN Security Council".The adopted resolution was drafted by France and co-sponsored by the UK the following day after Russia introduced an updated version of its previously submitted draft resolution that was blocked by the Western powers as seeking to legitimise Assad's authority.
On 24 November 2015, Turkey shot down a Russian warplane that allegedly violated Turkish airspace and crashed in northwestern Syria, leading to the Russian pilot's death.Following the crash, it was reported that Syrian Turkmenrebels from Syrian Turkmen Brigades attacked and shot down a Russian rescue helicopter, killing a Russian naval infantryman. A few days after, Russian aircraft were reported to have struck targets in the Syrian town of Ariha in Idlib province that was controlled by the Army of Conquestcausing multiple casualties on the ground.
On 2 December 2015, the Parliament of the United Kingdom voted to expand its Iraqi air strike campaign into Syria with a majority of 397-223. Following the vote, two BritishTornado aircraft took off from RAF Akrotiri immediately at 22:30, each carrying three Paveway bombs. Two further aircraft were deployed at 00:30 on 3 December, and all aircraft returned by 06:30 without their bombs. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that the strikes hit the Omar oil fields in eastern Syria, and that eight more jets (two Tornados and six Typhoons) were being sent to RAF Akrotiri to join the eight already there.
On 7 December 2015, the government of Syria announced that US-led coalition warplanes had fired nine missiles at its army camp near Ayyash, Deir al-Zour province, on the evening prior, killing three soldiers and wounding 13 others; three armoured vehicles, four military vehicles, heavy machine-guns and an arms and ammunition depot were also destroyed. The government condemned the strikes, the first time the government forces would be struck by the coalition, as an act of "flagrant aggression"; the coalition spokesman denied it was responsible. Anonymous Pentagon officials alleged later in the day that the Pentagon was "certain" that a Russian warplane (presumably a TU-22 bomber) had carried out the attack. The claim was denied by the Russian military spokesman who noted that four Western coalition warplanes (other than U.S.) had been spotted over the Deir az-Zor area in Syria on 6 December.
On 14 December 2015, Russia′s government news media reported that the Syrian government forces retook the Marj al-Sultan military airbase east of Damascus that had been held by Jaysh al-Islam.
Advanced weaponry and tactics
Chemical weapons
A UN fact-finding mission was requested by member states to investigate 16 alleged chemical weapons attacks. Seven of them have been investigated (nine were dropped for lack of "sufficient or credible information") and in four cases the UN inspectors confirmed use of sarin gas. The reports, however, did not blame any party of using chemical weapons. Many countries, including the United States and the European Union have accused the Syrian government of conducting several chemical attacks, the most serious of them being the 2013 Ghouta attacks. Following this incident and international pressure, the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons began. In 2015 the UN mission disclosed previously undeclared traces of sarin compounds in a "military research site".
Cluster bombs
The Syrian Army began using cluster bombs in September 2012. Steve Goose, director of the Arms division at Human Rights Watch said "Syria is expanding its relentless use of cluster munitions, a banned weapon, and civilians are paying the price with their lives and limbs", "The initial toll is only the beginning because cluster munitions often leave unexploded bomblets that kill and maim long afterward."
Scud missile attacks
In December 2012, the Syrian government began using Scud missiles on rebel-held towns, primarily targeting Aleppo. On 19 February, four Scud missiles were fired, three landed in Aleppo city and one on Tell Rifaat town, Aleppo Governorate. Between December and February, at least 40 Scud missile landings were reported. Altogether, Scud missiles killed 141 people in the month of February. The United States condemned the Scud missile attacks. On 1 March, a Scud missile landed in Iraq. It is believed that the intention was to hit the Deir Ezzor Governorate. On 29 March, a Scud missile landed on Hretan, Aleppo, killing 20 and injuring 50. On 28 April, a Scud missile landed on Tell Rifaat, killing four, two of them women and two of them children, SOHR reported. On 3 June, a surface to surface missile, not confirmed as a Scud, hit the village of Kafr Hamrah around midnight killing 26 people including six women and eight children according toSOHR.
Suicide bombings
Rebel suicide bombings began in December 2011; the al-Nusra Front has claimed responsibility for 57 out of 70 similar attacks through April 2013. The bombings have claimed numerous civilian casualties, including 47 mainly Alawite children killed in Homs on 1 October 2014.
Barrel bombs
A barrel bomb is a type of improvised explosive device used by the Syrian Air Force. Typically, a barrel is filled with a large amount of TNT, and possiblyshrapnel (such as nails) and oil, and dropped from a helicopter. The resulting detonation can be devastating.
Thermobaric weapons
Thermobaric weapons, also known as "fuel-air bombs", have been used by the government side during the Syrian civil war. Since 2012, rebels have said that the Syrian Air Force (government forces) is using thermobaric weapons against residential areas occupied by the rebel fighters, such as during the Battle of Aleppo and also in Kafr Batna. A panel of United Nations human rights investigators reported that the Syrian government used thermobaric bombs against the strategic town of Qusayr in March 2013. In August 2013, the BBC reported on the use of napalm-like incendiary bombs on a school in northern Syria. On 2 December 2015, The National Interest reported that Russia was deploying the TOS-1 Buratino multiple rocket launch system to Syria, which is "designed to launch massive thermobaric charges against infantry in confined spaces such as urban areas."
The weapon was spotted as early as April 2014 in at least two videos that surfaced showing Syrian opposition forces in the Syrian Civil War using BGM-71 TOWs, a weapon previously not seen in use by the opposition. Such a video, showing a BGM-71E-3B with the serial number removed, can be seen in a 27 May 2014 episode of the PBS series Frontline.
In February 2015, The Carter Center listed 23 groups within the Southern Front of the Free Syrian Army that have been documented using US supplied TOWs.
A sudden influx of TOWs were supplied in May 2015, mostly to Free Syrian Army affiliated factions, but also independent Islamist battalions; as a requirement of being provided TOWs, these Syrian opposition groups are required to document the use of the missiles by filming their use, and are also required to save the spent missile casings. Groups provided with TOWs include the Hazzm Movement, the 13th Division, 1st Coastal Division, Syria Revolutionaries Front, Yarmouk Army,Knights of Justice Brigade, and the 101st Division. Free Syrian Army battalions widely and decisively used TOWs in the2015 Jisr al-Shughur offensive. Russia attempted a rescue operation after a Su-24M was shot down at Syria–Turkey border on 24 November 2015, a video of Syrian rebels using a TOW missile to destroy a Russian helicopter was posted on YouTube. Saudi Arabia officials have confirmed supply of at least one batch of 500 BGM-71 TOW to FSA, which also have been provided by CIA. During this conflict, over 9,000 BGM-71E3B TOW and M79 Osaanti-tank systems have been brought in.


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The Maritime Report: For June 27, 2013
The Maritime Report: For June 27, 2013
Blind sailor Mitsuhiro Iwamoto at the 2012 California Invitational Blind Sailing Regatta in Alameda. Photo courtesy of the Island Yacht Club.
A friend e-mailed me a newspaper article on Sunday with the dateline Sendai (Kyodo) Japan. The lede reads:
Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force on Friday rescued a blind sailor and his supporter in the Pacific off northeastern Japan after their small yacht was flooded with seawater, the Japan Coast Guard said.
The article talks about the rescue of blind sailor Mitsuhiro Iwamoto and his sighted supporter, newscaster Jiro Shimbo. They were caught in a storm several hundred miles west of Japan, about two weeks into their trip to San Diego in a 40-foot sailboat.
I know very few folks from Japan, and even fewer sailors. But I, along with more than 100 other sailors and friends, know this one. "Hiro," as he's known, has been here in Alameda twice for the California Invitational Blind Sailing Regatta (CIBSR) put on by the Marin Sailing School Blind Sailing Program and hosted by the Island Yacht Club. In the first regatta held in 2010, Hiro received the Sportsmanship Award for his always-smiling, always-helpful presence.
Those of us who had never seen blind sailing before found the regatta to be (pun intended) an eye-opener. The teams are shown where things are on the sailboats exactly once by placing their hands on them; those locations are not forgotten. A local craftsperson created a tactile map of the Alameda-Oakland Estuary so they could "see" with their fingers this area where they would spend two days racing.
On each boat, there was a blind helmsman and a blind sail trimmer. Two sighted sailors also went on each boat, to be lookouts and help in case of emergencies, but they did not do anything that had to do with sailing the boat. The teams from Japan, New Zealand, Boston, Canada and San Francisco competed as hard against each other as in any regatta we had all ever seen. The 2010 regatta was a great event; the 2012 version repeated the success.
So now, from this article, I again have my eyes opened and consciousness raised. These folks go way beyond racing small boats in protected waters. Hiro was out there to sail 6,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, and the storm that stopped him could have stopped any advanced ocean sailor.
We're all really happy to hear that Hiro is safe back home, and look forward to him being back on our Island (flying here will be fine) for the CIBSR next year.
The Saturday press release was entitled "Mediation Makes Good Progress but Ends Without Final Resolution."
The four teams have been meeting with mediators to iron out how to implement the 37 recommendations issued by Regatta Director Iain Murray after the Artemis Racing tragedy several weeks ago. If they can't do it all in mediation, then the decisions go to an "International Jury" to finalize the rules.
In the meantime, heads of some of the teams have been loud and critical of the Cup organization and, in some cases, of each other. More people are being more vocal in their criticism of the decision to sail the AC72 (72-foot) catamarans in San Francisco. Speaking to Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle, Artemis CEO (and Bay Area native) Paul Cayard called San Francisco "one of the windiest venues in the world."
"But that's a good thing if you've got the right tool for it," Cayard added. "It's a horrible thing if you've got the wrong tool. Right now we've got the wrong tool. We've got a boat that's made for San Diego (where the winds are much lighter), and we're trying to race it in San Francisco." In particular, he's angry that the height of the wing was increased six meters (nearly 20 feet) after the original rules were written.
Those of us who sail here feel those winds every week in the summer. While our sailing colleagues in the East, or down in San Diego, get pretty excited when the winds come up to 15 knots on a summer afternoon, we're accustomed to heading out towards Angel Island with more than 25 knots coming across the boat. (A knot is just a bit faster than 1 mile per hour.)
Anyway, the AC34 is coming! There is a press briefing going on about when you may be reading this on Thursday, and I hope they'll pass on some useful information for those of you who want to see some of the July races. It should be a very interesting summer!

subset: commoncrawl


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2012 WON Bass U.S. Open Promo Video – part 1
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Oh dear… I think we have been missing for the past few weeks, have we? I apologise for that. I think it is time for us to give some update about what we have been doing that stopped us from updating.
Two things, exactly. Holiday, and Game.
We just came back from Hungary a couple of week ago. Yes you read it right, Hungary.
We had a wedding invitation in Hungary. My friend, who happened to be a Hungarian was getting married, and we were invited to participate in the celebration. I thought, as we were going there, might as well spend some days to get around and visit some interesting places.
Of course I am going to update with more details, and some photos later.
Game is a dangerous thing. Like I said before, I am new to Steam, and now they have this Summer Sale. As the result, I bought several games that few weeks ago was not affordable for me. That was a really bad idea.
I was so engrossed in the game, and I haven't been able to be productive since then. Yes, I need to reorganise soon.
There you go, our summer summarised in less than two hundred words 😀


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