ALEPPO: Syria’s most populous city before the war, has been split for years between a government-held western sector and the rebel-held east. Intense bombing has destroyed the landscape of the city and killed thousands of people and injured many more since the start of the conflict.
Shifting battleground
As peace talks began in Geneva in February, Syrian and Russian forces launched their most intense offensive, breaking a three-year rebel siege of two villages outside Aleppo and taking them within 3km of their objective of encircling the rebels in the city.
The first round of peace talks fell apart after the opposition negotiators walked out, while tens of thousands of Syrians fled the intensifying assault around Aleppo and headed for Turkey. Russia said its assault was targeting al-Nusra, the only group other than Islamic State to be universally outlawed by the United Nations and therefore a legitimate target.
FEB. 5, 2016
Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air strikes, launch their biggest offensive north of Aleppo in a year.
MARCH 4
Rebels said that the government may intend to work with the Kurdish YPG militia to break the rebels’ link north of Aleppo to their territory west of the city.
After a nationwide truce lasting almost two months, fighting restarted in April. The rebels had one remaining supply route, the Castello Road, which skirts north of Sheikh Maqsoud, a Kurdish-held district in western Aleppo. Enmity between the Kurdish YPG militia and rebels had spilled into all-out war in the Aleppo area since late 2015, which rebels say resulted from YPG attempts to cut the road.
In July, the Syrian army texted residents telling them to leave and the army air dropped leaflets. The governor of Aleppo said humanitarian corridors would be set up to evacuate civilians, and rebels who surrendered within three months would be given an amnesty. The UN said humanitarian aid was a job for the UN, and France said the Russian plan was not credible and the US said it could be a ruse. More than 150 civilians left on July 30. Air strikes on medical facilities intensified, with 15 strikes reported during July.
JULY 15
Pro-government forces’ advance north of Aleppo put Syrian President Bashar al-Assad within two miles of besieging over 275,000 civilians in Aleppo City.
On Aug 1 the besieged rebels launched a major assault in the southwest, overrunning the fortress-like Ramouseh military base and breaking the siege within a week, with 6,000-8,000 fighters and dozens of tanks advancing in the wake of targeted suicide vehicle attacks. The advance threatened to cut government supply lines and besiege Western Aleppo.
AUG. 8
Opposition groups lift the siege of Aleppo, dealing a severe setback to efforts by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies.
After a month of sustained pressure on the rebels, government forces, including thousands of Hezbollah and Iraqi Shi’ite militia fighters, recaptured lost areas in southern Aleppo and re-sealed the siege of the eastern sector, starting the final chapter of the battle.
Russia said its air raids targeted Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the renamed Nusra Front, but more and more hospitals were hit by air strikes, and food and medical supplies were running out. Late in October Russia called a three-day truce, and it held off air attacks for four weeks.
The rebels massed thousands of more forces outside Aleppo and launched a new offensive on Oct. 28 to try to punch through western districts to reach the besieged zone. The massive attack failed to break through, and after two weeks pro-Assad forces recovered the territory lost in the assault. By mid-November food warehouses were empty and all hospitals in the besieged zone were out of action
OCT. 28
Syrian rebels counter-attacked the army, mainly on the city’s western edge, aiming to break a weeks-long siege on eastern Aleppo.
On Nov. 28 the Syrian government forces cut the besieged zone in half, driving rebels from the northern third of eastern Aleppo and sending at least 20,000 civilians fleeing.
Population under attack
Devastated landscape
The yellow dots indicate buildings damaged in the city of Aleppo, as determined by satellite imagery analysis, using data acquired on May 1, 2015, April 26, 2015, May 23, 2014, Sept. 23, 2013, and Nov. 21, 2010.
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