Fatah Halab

Fatah Halab (Arabic: فتح حلب‎, lit. 'Conquest of Aleppo'), or Aleppo Conquest, was a joint operations room of Syrian rebel factions operating in and around Aleppo, Syria. Succeeding the Aleppo Liberation operations room, its establishment was announced on 26 April 2015.[1][2] It stated that its aim was to conquer Aleppo City from Syrian government forces.[8]

Conquest of Aleppo[1]
فتح حلب Fatah Halab Participant in the Syrian Civil War
Logo of Fatah Halab
Active	26 April 2015 – 21 January 2017[2] (in the Aleppo Governorate, until 1 December 2016 within southeastern Aleppo)[3]
Leaders	Major Yasser Abdul Rahim[4]
Headquarters	Aleppo, Syria (until 1 December 2016) Aleppo Governorate, Syria (from 1 December 2016)
Area of operations	Aleppo Governorate, Syria (from 1 December 2016 they are no longer active in the city centre)[5]
Size	8,000+ (16 October 2016)[6]
Allies	Army of Conquest Ansar al-Din Front Ansar al-Islam Ansar al-Sharia (mid-2015–early 2016)
Opponent(s)	Syrian Armed Forces  Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Syrian Democratic Forces
Battles and war(s)	Syrian Civil War Battle of Aleppo[5] Aleppo offensive (July 2015) Aleppo offensive (October–December 2015) Northern Aleppo offensive (February 2016) 2016 Southern Aleppo campaign Aleppo bombings (April–July 2016) 2016 Aleppo summer campaign Aleppo offensive (June–July 2016) Aleppo offensive (July–August 2016) Aleppo offensive (August–September 2016) Aleppo offensive (September–October 2016) Aleppo offensive (October–November 2016) Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016) Rojava–Islamist conflict[7]

In an October 2015 publication, the Washington D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War considered Aleppo Conquest as one of the "powerbrokers" in Aleppo Governorate, being both "anti-regime" and "anti-ISIS."[8]

Since the inter-rebel conflicts, defections and mergers which started in December 2016, Fatah Halab has become largely defunct.

Member groups

The operations room included both US-backed groups[9] and Sunni Islamist groups. It included some groups which also participated in the Sunni Islamist Ansar al-Sharia operations room, but not others, such as al-Nusra Front.[10] Previously al-Nusra coordinated with other groups through the Aleppo Operations Room.[11]

Fatah Halab was originally established by 7 major Sunni Islamist groups on 26 April 2015:[12]

• Levant Front
• Ahrar al-Sham
• Sham Legion
• Levant Revolutionaries Battalions
• Army of Islam
• Fastaqim Union
• Dawn of Caliphate Battalions

The number of groups in Fatah Halab increased after its founding, and by 18 June 2015 there were 31 groups.[13]

As of October 2016 there were around 8,000 fighters spread out over a myriad of groups of varying sized. The following were the largest groups that participate in the operations room.[14][15]

• 1st Regiment
• Liberation Army[16]
  • 46th Division
• Ahrar al-Sham
• Levant Front
• Army of Mujahideen
  • Atarib Martyrs Brigade
• Levant Revolutionaries Battalions[17]
  • Banners of Islam Movement[17]
• Authenticity and Development Front
• Fastaqim Union (mostly defunct since November 2016)
• Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement (until October 2016)[18]
• Sham Legion
• Sultan Murad Division
  • Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror Brigade
• Free Idlib Army
  • Mountain Hawks Brigade
  • Northern Division
  • 13th Division
• 101st Infantry Division
• Army of Glory
• Central Division
  • Sword of God Brigade[19]
• Army of Islam
• Army of Victory[20]
• Criterion Brigades (former)
• Conquest Brigade
• Liwa al-Haqq
• Jaysh al-Sunna
• Elite Islamic Battalions[21]
• Islamic Freedom Brigade
• Dawn of Caliphate Battalions
• Bayan Movement
• 16th Division (largely dissolved in July 2016, succeeded by 23rd Division)

Major Yasser Abdul Rahim, commander of Fatah Halab and field commander of the Sham Legion in Aleppo, coordinate an attack on YPG positions in Aleppo, 2 October 2015.

War crimes

See also: Human rights violations during the Syrian Civil War § Free Syrian Army and other armed opposition fighters

On 13 May 2016, Amnesty International accused the Fatah Halab coalition of "repeated indiscriminate attacks that may amount to war crimes". It also reported their alleged use of chemical weapons.[22]

A United Nations report in February 2017 came to the conclusion that during the siege of Eastern Aleppo Fatah Halab, after vowing to take revenge on Kurds in Sheikh Maqsoud, intentionally attacked civilian inhabited neighbourhoods of the Kurdish enclave, killing and maiming dozens of civilians, and that these acts constitute the war crime of directing attacks against a civilian population.[23][24]

See also

• List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War

References

1. Masi, Alessandria (26 April 2015). "Syria's coming battle for Aleppo: It's everybody against Assad and ISIS". International Business Times. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
2. Bisaccio, Derek (26 April 2015). "Aleppo city operation". Foreign Policy Talk. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
3. "فتح حلب بيان رقم -41". 1 November 2016.
4. "Fatah Halab Chief Commander: Military Operation Ongoing To Control Entire Aleppo". Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office. 29 October 2016.
5. "Syria: Coming together to fight Assad in Aleppo". al-Araby al-Jadeed. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
6. "The Latest: UN Syria envoy: Some 8,000 rebels left in Aleppo". Associated Press. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
7. "YPG, allies clash with Syrian opposition groups in Aleppo". Middle East Eye. 29 November 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
8. Cafarella & Casagrande 2015, p. 3.
9. "Syria military resists major rebel assault in Aleppo". BBC News. 3 July 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
10. Joscelyn, Thomas (3 July 2015). "Al Nusrah Front, allies form new coalition for battle in Aleppo". The Long War Journal. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
11. Jamie Dettmer (27 January 2015). "Exclusive: Obama Cuts Off Syrian Rebels' Cash". The Daily Beast.
12. "In the footsteps of Idlib .. factions announce the version of the Aleppo army "conquest"". Zaman al-Wasl. 26 April 2015.
13. "Infographic: "Fatah Halab" military operations room – coalition of 31 rebel factions". Archicivilians. 18 June 2015. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
14. Cafarella & Casagrande 2015, pp. 8–14
15. Story, AP. "Associated Press".
16. "Syrian Civil War factions".
17. Al-Tamimi, Aymenn Jawad. "Syrian Rebel Mergers: A Harakat Nour Al-Din Al-Zinki Perspective".
18. "Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki". Civil War al-Sham. 17 October 2016.
19. Roche, Cody (17 November 2016). "Syrian Opposition group infographics [updates]". Archived from the original on 15 December 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
20. جيش النصر (5 May 2016). "جيش النصر -- استهداف معاقل قوات النظام بقذائف الدبابات في جمعية الزهراء بمدينة حلب" – via YouTube.
21. فرقة الصفوة (3 February 2016). "فتح حلب-- أكثر من 100 قتيل لعصابات الأسد بمحيط قرية معرستة لمحاولتهم اقتحام القرية وتصدي الثوار لهم" – via YouTube.
22. "Syria: armed opposition group committing war crimes in Aleppo - new evidence". Amnesty International UK. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
23. "Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic" (PDF). United Nations. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
24. "UN says Syrian rebel shelling of Kurds 'a war crime'". ARA News. 2 March 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2017.

Sources

• Jennifer Cafarella; Genevieve Casagrande (7 October 2015). "Syrian Opposition Guide" (PDF). Backgrounder. Institute for the Study of War. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)