2015 Southern Syria offensive | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Syrian Civil War | |||||||
Syrian Government control
Opposition control
Contested | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Syrian Revolutionary Command Council Islamic Muthanna Movement[2]al-Nusra Front Jamaat Bayt al-Maqdis al-Islamiya[2][3] |
Iranian IRGC[4] Liwa Fatemiyoun[5] Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada[6] Jaysh al-Wafaa[7] | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Gen. Bashar al-Zoubi (Southern Front leader) Maj. Abu Osama al-Jolani[11] Col. Saber Safar (leader of the First Army)[12] Mukhtar Abu Omar † (top military leader of al-Nusra Front in Southern Syria)[13][14] |
Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani[15] Mustafa Badr Al Din[16] Maj. Gen. Suheil Salman Hassan (5th Mechanized Division) Brig. Gen. Mahmoud Mustafa †[17] Col. Abbas Abdollahi †[18][19] Alireza Tavassoli † (Liwa Fatemiyoun leader)[20] | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
5th Mechanized Division[21] 7th Infantry Division[21] 9th Armored Division[21] 10th Armored Division[22] | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
2,500[23] |
5,000[23] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
294 killed (Syrian Army claim)[24] 300 killed and wounded (rebel claim)[25] |
63 killed (Syrian Army claim)[26][27][28][29] 43 killed, 10–12 executed, 40 captured (SOHR claim)[5][30][31] 400 killed (rebel claim)[25] |
The 2015 Southern Syria offensive, code-named "Operation Martyrs of Quneitra",[32] was an offensive launched in southern Syria during the Syrian Civil War by the Syrian Arab Army, Hezbollah and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces.[33] Government forces also include Iranian sponsored Afghani Shi'ite volunteer militias.[29] The name "Operation Martyrs of Quneitra" refers to the January 2015 Mazraat Amal incident, in which several high level Hezbollah and IRGC members were killed in an Israeli strike.[34]
After Syrian troops and their allies captured 15 towns, villages and hills,[8][9][10] the operation slowed[35] and stalled[25] during attempts to advance on Kafr Shams and Kafr Nasij.[36] The gains by pro-government troops were described as limited,[35] while the pro-Damascus As-Safir reported the gains were a "devastating" defeat for the rebels.[37] Most viewed the offensive as unsuccessful,[38][39][40][41][42] with the rebels "weathering"[43] the "collapsed" offensive.[44]
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).In the south, opposition forces foiled an offensive led by regime allies from Hizbollah, the Lebanese Shia militia, and military advisers from Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The opposition has now set its sights on Derra
Furthermore, regime offensives launched in the southern provinces of Deraa and Quneitra and Aleppo in the north have proved unsuccessful.
In the past three months, the rebels have [...] checked another regime offensive south of Damascus
Unsuccessful regime attempts to once again shift its campaign towards Dera'a and Quneitra Provinces starting in December 2014 indicated that overall regime offensive capabilities in southern Syria may be waning despite fresh influxes of Iranian proxies to the frontlines.
Earlier this year, loyalist offensives in Aleppo, northern Damascus and southern Syria were similarly defeated within days.
[The Southern Front] has seized a border crossing and a government-held town in recent weeks after weathering a government offensive
[...] government forces have been proving increasingly ineffective. The collapse of two much-trumpeted offensives earlier this year, in southern Syria and in Aleppo, presaged the success of the recent rebel offensives
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