2013 Latakia offensive

2013 Latakia offensive
Part of the Syrian Civil War
Situation in the Latakia Governorate in August 2013      Syrian Army control      Opposition control
Date 4–19 August 2013 (2 weeks and 1 day) Location Latakia Governorate, Syria Result Syrian Army victory Rebel forces initially capture 13 villages Army counter-attack recaptures all of the villages Rebels kill at least 190 civilians and continue to hold more than 200 as hostages
Belligerents
Syrian opposition Free Syrian Army Sunni jihadists Syrian Islamic Front Ahrar ash-Sham Al-Nusra Front Junud al-Sham Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Harakat Sham al-Islam	Syrian Arab Republic Syrian Armed Forces National Defense Force Syrian Resistance
Commanders and leaders
Walid Aouss † (Rejal Ahoudou Allah Leader) Kahtane Haaj Mohammed † (Al Tawhid Brigade Commander) Ans Chyghani † (Al Izzatullah wal nasr minAllah Brigade Commander) Abou Al Hassan Ammar † (FSA spokesman) Abu Moaz (Ahrar al-Sham Commander) Abu Mustafa (Ansar al-Din Commander) Muslim Abu Walid al Shishani (Junud al-Sham Commander)	Hilal al-Assad (Latakia NDF commander) Nizar al-Khatib † (Tartus NDF commander) Mihraç Ural (Syrian Resistance Commander)
Units involved
Suqour al-Ezz Liwa al-Mujahideen Kataib Ansar al-Sham Harakat Sham al-Islam Katibat al Muhajiroon Ahrar ash-Sham Ansar al-Din Junud al-Sham	1st Armoured Division 58th Mechanized Brigade 3rd Armoured Division 47th Armoured Brigade Syrian Air Force
Strength
1,500–2,000 fighters	5,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
107 fighters killed (up until Army counter-attack)	114–127 soldiers and 44 militiamen killed
190–205 civilians killed

     Syrian Army control

Syrian Army victory

Syrian opposition

Sunni jihadists

Syrian Arab Republic

1st Armoured Division

3rd Armoured Division

The 2013 Latakia offensive (called Operation Liberation of the Coast by the Free Syrian Army and its supporters, and The Descendants of Aisha, Mother of the Believers by jihadists) was a campaign during the Syrian civil war launched by Salafist and jihadist rebel forces in the Latakia Governorate. The stated aim of the offensive was to conquer Al-Haffah city, but government supporters assumed conquering Mount Nabi Younes was more likely the real aim. A calculated side effect may have been to spark more sectarian violence in Syria by carrying out a sectarian attack on an Alawite-majority area. The offensive began in early August 2013. During the campaign, rebel forces captured a dozen villages. However, in mid-August, the military counter-attacked and recaptured all of the territory previously lost to the rebels.

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Wikipedia