47 articles
Operation Olive Branch
Operation Olive Branch (Zeytin Dalı Harekâtı), Turkey's 20 January to 18 March 2018 cross-border offensive in Afrin, Syria, with the Syrian National Army against the YPG; captured Afrin city, displaced roughly half its population.
Palmyra offensive (March 2016)
The March 2016 Palmyra offensive: Syrian forces with Russian air support retook Palmyra from ISIS on 27 March 2016, ending ten months of occupation; later reversed in December 2016.
Rif Dimashq offensive (February–April 2018)
Rif Dimashq offensive (February–April 2018), codename Operation Damascus Steel, a Syrian Arab Army campaign that recaptured the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta enclave near Damascus, ending a siege begun in 2013, with massive civilian deaths and a Douma chemical attack on 7 April 2018.
Rojava Revolution
The Rojava Revolution (19 July 2012 uprising in Kobane), also called the July 19 Revolution, created AANES in northeastern Syria on democratic-confederalist principles from Öcalan's ideology, with women's quotas and co-chairs, before dissolving into the Syrian state by 2026.
Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war
Russia's intervention in the Syrian civil war began with airstrikes on 30 September 2015 supporting Bashar al-Assad; a limited expeditionary campaign costing about $1 billion a year that kept Assad in power until his December 2024 fall, after which Russia retained bases at Hmeimim and Tartus under a 2026 joint training-center agreement.
SDF–Syrian transitional government clashes (2025–2026)
Armed clashes (December 2025–February 2026) between the Kurdish-led SDF and Syria's transitional government after the March 2025 integration agreement stalled; government forces overran most SDF territory, leading to January 2026 ceasefire deals and the SDF's August 2026 dissolution.
Siege of Daraa
Siege of Daraa: two Syrian government military sieges of Daraa city, April-May 2011 (Fourth Division, tanks, communications cut, hundreds killed) and the 2021 siege of Daraa al-Balad (77 days, 50,000 residents).
Siege of Darayya and Muadamiyat
Siege of Darayya and Muadamiyat al-Sham: Syrian government encirclement and starvation blockade of two Damascus suburbs, 2012–2016, ending with forced evacuation agreements to Idlib and government camps.
Siege of Eastern Ghouta
Siege of Eastern Ghouta: Syrian government encirclement of a 100 km² rebel enclave of 400,000 people near Damascus, April 2013 to April 2018, the longest siege in modern history, marked by starvation, the 2013 sarin attack, and the 2018 offensive.
Siege of Homs
Siege of Homs (حمص): encirclement of rebel-held Homs, Syria's third-largest city, by government forces from mid-2011 until the Old City fell on 9 May 2014; later enclaves fell by 2018, and rebels took the city in December 2024.
Siege of Kobanî
Siege of Kobanî (Kobane, Ayn al-Arab): ISIS assault on the Syrian Kurdish border town, mid-September 2014 to January 26, 2015. YPG defenders, peshmerga, and US-led coalition airstrikes, including 1,700 B-1-dropped weapons, repelled about 4,000 ISIS fighters.
Sieges during the Syrian civil war
Sieges during the Syrian civil war were the sustained encirclement of towns by armed actors to cut off food, medicine, and civilians' movement, mostly by the Syrian state.
Southern Syria clashes (July–September 2025)
Southern Syria clashes (July–September 2025): Druze-Bedouin fighting in Suwayda governorate after a kidnapping; government forces and Israeli airstrikes intervened; at least 1,700 killed, ~200,000 displaced.
Timber Sycamore
Timber Sycamore was a CIA covert weapons-supply and training program for Syrian rebels, run with Saudi intelligence from 2012-2013 until 2017, costing about $1 billion a year, operating through the MOC in Jordan and MOM in Turkey, and ending without toppling Assad.
Turkish occupation of northern Syria
Turkish occupation of northern Syria: since August 2016, Türkiye and its Syrian National Army proxy have held territory seized in Operations Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch, and Peace Spring, ruling some 1.4 million people through over 100 military sites amid documented abuses.
Turkish–Syrian National Army offensive in Northern Syria (2024–2025)
Turkish-backed Syrian National Army offensive (Operation Dawn of Freedom, November 2024–2025) against the Kurdish-led SDF in northern Syria: seizure of Tal Rifaat and Manbij, fighting at Tishreen Dam, 100,000 displaced, ending with the March 2025 SDF integration agreement.
Western Syria clashes
Western Syria clashes: 2025–2026 fighting between Syria's interim authorities and Druze and Alawite communities, centered on Suwayda, Jaramana, and the coast, marked by the July 2025 Suwayda offensive, Bedouin tribal mobilization, Israeli strikes, and a lasting stalemate.