The Hama and Homs offensive (March–April 2015) during the
Syrian Civil War was launched by the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
(ISIL) in an attempt to cut the government supply line between its troops in central and northern
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
.
The offensive
ISIL launched a two-pronged offensive in the eastern rural areas of Hama and Homs provinces on 20 March 2015, in an attempt to cut the main government supply line linking
Aleppo
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Khanasir
Khanasir ( ar, خناصر / ALA-LC: ''Khanāṣir''),France, 2007, p. 243. also spelt Khanaser, is a town located in Syria's as-Safira District. It is one of twenty-four towns and villages located in the Khanasir valley, an area with a population ...
,
Salamiyah
A full view of Shmemis (spring 1995)
Salamieh ( ar, سلمية ') is a city and district in western Syria, in the Hama Governorate. It is located southeast of Hama, northeast of Homs. The city is nicknamed the "mother of Cairo" because it was t ...
and
Hama
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with each other.
It was also speculated the aim of the assault was to raise morale after losses to Kurdish forces in the northeast of the country, especially during the
Siege of Kobanî
The siege of Kobanî was launched by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on 13 September 2014, in order to capture the Kobanî Canton and its main city of Kobanî (also known as Kobanê or Ayn al-Arab) in northern Syria, in the ''de facto'' ...
.
After three days of fighting, during which ISIL stormed several military checkpoints, 20 soldiers were killed in Homs,
while 74 soldiers died in Hama and a number of others were missing.
Early on 23 March, the jihadists attacked the military airport in
Tadmur
Palmyra (; ar, تَدْمُر, Tadmor; Palmyrene: ''Tadmor'') is a city in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate. It is located in an oasis in the middle of the Syrian Desert northeast of Damascus and southwest of the Eu ...
, in Homs province,
and reportedly shot down a
Syrian Arab Air Force
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Sukhoi Su-24
The Sukhoi Su-24 ( NATO reporting name: Fencer) is a supersonic, all-weather attack aircraft developed in the Soviet Union. The aircraft has a variable-sweep wing, twin-engines and a side-by-side seating arrangement for its crew of two. It wa ...
attack aircraft.
On 31 March, Islamic State militants killed 46–48 civilians in the village of
Mabuja, in Hama province, before the Army managed to repel their attack. The subsequent fighting also left 31 soldiers and reportedly 40 militants dead. Six of the NDF soldiers were executed.
The victims were either shot dead, burned or stabbed. 50 other civilians were kidnapped by ISIL from the village.
On 5 April, ISIL restarted its offensive by attacking four villages in the
Salamiyah District
Salamiyah ( ar, سلمية ') is a district (mantiqah) administratively belonging to Hama Governorate, Syria. At the 2004 Census it had a population of 187,123. Its administrative district is the city of Salamiyah.
Sub-districts
The district of S ...
of Hama, but reportedly did not manage to gain any significant ground. Two civilians were killed due to ISIL shelling.
By 7 April, after two days of continues fighting, the ISIL assault was repelled.
Still, on 9 April, ISIL attacked the al-Tababir and Hannorah checkpoints, in the east of the al-Froqlos area of Homs province, leaving 17 soldiers dead, three of whom were beheaded.
See also
*
Palmyra offensive (2015)
The Palmyra offensive of May 2015 was a military operation launched during the Syrian Civil War by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on May 13–26, 2015, in an attempt to capture the government-held Tadmur District of the Homs ...
*
Qalamoun offensive (May 2015)
*
Battle of Yarmouk Camp (2015)
The Battle of Yarmouk Camp (2015) was a battle that broke out in April 2015, during the Syrian Civil War, when the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant stormed the rebel-held Yarmouk Camp. The Yarmouk Camp is a district of Damascus that is hom ...
*
Al-Hasakah offensive (February–March 2015)
The Eastern al-Hasakah offensive was launched in the Al-Hasakah Governorate during the Syrian Civil War, by the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units, Assyrian Christian militias, and allied Arab forces against the jihadist Islamic State of ...
*
List of wars and battles involving ISIL
The following is a list of conflicts involving the jihadist militant group known as the Islamic State (IS/ISIL/ISIS/Daesh), throughout its various incarnations. The group controlled portions of territory in Iraq and Syria in the mid-2010s and ha ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hama and Homs offensive (March-April 2015)
Military operations of the Syrian civil war in 2015
Hama Governorate in the Syrian civil war
Homs Governorate in the Syrian civil war
Military operations of the Syrian civil war involving the Syrian government
Military operations of the Syrian civil war involving the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
March 2015 events in Syria
April 2015 events in Syria