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Conquest of Aleppo^[1]
Conquest of Aleppo
فتح حلب ; Fatah Halab
	Logo of Fatah Halab
Leaders	Major Yasser Abdul Rahim
Dates of operation	26 April 2015 – 21 January 2017 (in the Aleppo Governorate, until 1 December 2016 within southeastern Aleppo)
Headquarters	Aleppo, Syria (until 1 December 2016); Aleppo Governorate, Syria (from 1 December 2016)
Active regions	Aleppo Governorate, Syria (from 1 December 2016 they are no longer active in the city centre)
Size	8,000+ (16 October 2016)
Allies	Army of Conquest; Ansar al-Din Front; Ansar al-Islam; Ansar al-Sharia (mid-2015–early 2016);
Opponents	Syrian Armed Forces; Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant; Syrian Democratic Forces;
Battles and wars	Syrian Civil War Battle of Aleppo 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;
	Preceded by; Aleppo Liberation Operations Room

Fatah Halab (Arabic: فتح حلب, romanized: Fataḥ Ḥalab, 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]^[3] It stated that its aim was to conquer Aleppo City from Syrian government forces.^[8]

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 seven 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^[update] 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)

War crimes

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]

References

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