ISIL Daraa offensive (February 2017)

Part of the Syrian Civil War and the
Inter-rebel conflict during the Syrian Civil War

A Free Syrian Army T-55 during the battles against ISIL west of Daraa.

Map of the offensive within the wider context of South-western Syria. The simultaneously rebel offensive in Daraa city is marked with a hatched box.

Date

20–27 February 2017
(1 week)

Location

Southwestern Daraa Governorate, Syria

Result

ISIL victory

ISIL captured Tasil, four other towns and villages, two bases and two hills
Rebels recaptured two villages

Belligerents

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Khalid ibn al-Walid Army

Tahrir al-Sham
Free Syrian Army

Southern Front

Strength

1,100–1,500+

Several hundred

Casualties and losses

36 killed

174 killed, dozens missing

9 civilians killed

ISIL victory

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Tahrir al-Sham
Free Syrian Army

The ISIL Daraa offensive (February 2017) was launched by an ISIL affiliate, the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, in the southwest of Syria near the Golan Heights and on the border with Israel and Jordan.

In preparation for the offensive, the ISIL affiliate was secretly supplied with intelligence and ammunition by members of three rebel factions in exchange for money. Recruited ISIL supporters, which included municipal employees, women and children as young as 12, had also helped to smuggle weapons and materiel into the besieged ISIL enclave.

On 20 February 2017, the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army took advantage of the rebel's redirection of personnel for an offensive in Daraa city and launched their large-scale offensive which resulted in them capturing Tasil, as well as four other towns and villages and a hill. The rebels managed to recapture only two towns.

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Wikipedia