2016 Aleppo summer campaign

2016 Aleppo summer campaign
	Part of the Battle of Aleppo and the Syrian Civil War
	; Map of Northern Syria during the offensive, with the area shown within the Aleppo City map marked by the box. Syrian Army control Syrian Opposition control SDF control Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant control
Date	25 June 2016 – 11 September 2016; (2 months, 2 weeks and 3 days)
Location	Aleppo, Syria
Result	Syrian Army and allies victory Army captures Castello road, besieging rebel-held areas of Aleppo; Army captures the al-Layramoun, Bani Zeid and Ashrafiyah districts, and advances in the al-Khalidiyah district; Rebel counter-offensive opens a new unsecured corridor by capturing the Artillery College and Ramouseh district, which is later recaptured by the Army, with rebel-held eastern Aleppo once again besieged;
Belligerents
Syrian Arab Republic; Iran; Liwa al-Quds; Ba'ath Brigades; Hezbollah; Liwa Fatemiyoun; Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba; Syrian Resistance; Supported by:; Russia (Airstrikes) Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria	Fatah Halab; Army of Conquest Al-Nusra Front (Jabhat Fateh al-Sham since 28 July); Ahrar al-Sham; Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria; Jaysh al-Sunna; Ajnad al-Sham; ; Ansar al-Islam; Supported by:; Turkey;
Commanders and leaders
Fahd Jassem al-Freij; (Minister of Defense); Maj. Gen. Suhayl al-Hasan; (Tiger Forces chief commander); Maj. Gen. Adib Mohammed; (Head of Aleppo security committee, replaced); Maj. Gen. Zaid Saleh; (Replacement head of Aleppo security committee); Maj. Gen. Adib Salameh; (Head of Aleppo Air Force Intelligence Directorate branch); Brig. Gen. Deeb Bazi †; (Airforce Technical Base commander); Brig. Gen. Asif Kheir Bek (DOW); (Artillery School commander); Gen. Yasir Muhsin Miya †; (Syrian Army commander); Gen. Muhammad Ali Sharbo †; (Syrian Army commander); Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Hassan (DOW); (147th Regiment Chief of Staff); Maj. Duraid Abu 'Ammar; (Tiger Forces commander); Suleiman al-Shwakh; (Desert Commandos commander); Mudar Makhlouf; (Military Security Shield Forces commander); Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani; (Quds Force chief commander); Gen. Dariush Darsti †; (IRGC commander); Maj. Abolghassem Zahiri (WIA); (102nd Imam Hossein Battalion commander); Ahmad Gholami †; (Iranian paramilitary commander); Haj Sameer Ali Awada †; (Hezbollah top commander, alleged); Hassan Mousa Abdul Nabi †; (Hezbollah commander); Ali Muhammad Mustafa Khalil †; (Imam Hujja Regiment commander) Zoran Birhat; (YPJ senior commander); Sharvan Efrin; (YPG commander); Unknown YPG commander †	Maj. Yasser Abd al-Rahim; (official leader of Fatah Halab); Ammar Shaaban †; (Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki top commander); Col. Mohammad Bakkar †; (Sham Legion top commander); Kamal Ahmad †; (8th Brigade commander); Abdel-Rahman Mansour †; (Islamic Safwah Movement commander); Yusuf Zo'ah †; (Army of Mujahideen general commander); (Army of Mujahideen commander); Abu Hajer Al-Homsi †; (nom de guerre: Abu Omar Saraqib, Army of Conquest commander of Idlib province and Jabhat Fatah chief military commander); Abdullah al-Muhaysini; (Jabhat Fateh cleric and leader); Abu Al-Muthanna †; ("Inghimassiyeen" commander); Khaled Abu Anas; (Ahrar al-Sham senior commander); Mustafa Al-Bayyour †; (Ahrar al-Sham top commander); Khattab Abou Ahmad †; (Abu Amara Brigades chief commander); Abu Hamza Al-Shami †; (5th Brigade commander); Saif Allah †; (Ahrar al-Sham tank commander); Ali Hamam †; (Ajnad al-Sham top commander); Wa’el Diyab (WIA); (Ajnad al-Sham commander); Abu Leith al-Tunisi †; (Ansar al-Islam commander); Mustafa Abu Jumaa †; (Levant Front and Leon Sedov Brigade commander)
Units involved
Syrian Armed Forces Syrian Army 4th Mechanized Division; Republican Guard 102nd Brigade; 800th Regiment; Popular Security and Support Forces; ; Tiger Forces; ; National Defence Forces; Military Intelligence Directorate Desert Commandos Regiment; Forces of the Fighters of the Tribes; Military Security Shield Forces; ; Syrian Arab Air Force; ; Iranian Armed Forces Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Isfahan division 102nd Imam Hossein Battalion; ; Alborz division; Basij; ; Iranian Army; Unidentified Iranian paramilitary unit; ; Hezbollah military Radwan Forces; Syrian Hezbollah groups Imam Mahdi Brigade; National Ideological Resistance; Imam Hujja Regiment; ; ; Russian Armed Forces Aerospace Forces; Naval Infantry advisors; ; Syrian Democratic Forces (27–30 July; 12–17 August) People's Protection Units; Women's Protection Units; ;	Fatah Halab Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki; Sham Legion; Jaysh al-Islam 8th Brigade; ; ; Free Syrian Army Fastaqim Kama Umirt; Army of Victory; Army of Mujahideen; 16th Division; Mountain Hawks Brigade; 13th Division; Northern Division; 101st Infantry Division; 1st Regiment; Central Division; Authenticity and Development Front; Levant Front Levant Revolutionaries Battalions; Leon Sedov Brigade; ; ; Ahrar al-Sham Abu Amara Brigades; 5th Brigade; ; Al-Nusra Front / Jabhat Fateh al-Sham Inghimassiyeen elite shock troops; Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad; Jabhat Ansar al-Din; Nusra Brigades; ;
Strength
Unknown number of soldiers, 100+ tanks, 400+ BMPs 400 Military Security Shield Forces fighters; c. 2,000 al-Nujaba fighters; 120+ Naval Infantry advisors, several BMPs	8,000–10,000+ fighters 2,500+ Jabhat Fateh fighters; 500 TIP fighters and 60 suicide attackers;
Casualties and losses
688 killed (per The Inside Source; since 31 July); 625 killed (per SOHR; 31 July – 10 Sep.)	1,051 killed (per The Inside Source; since 31 July); 948 killed (per SOHR; 31 July – 10 Sep.)
	718 civilians killed (31 July – 10 Sep.)

The 2016 Aleppo summer campaign started with a military operation launched on the northern outskirts of Aleppo in late June 2016, by the Syrian Arab Army. The aim of the offensive was to cut the last rebel supply line into Aleppo city.

By late July, the military had managed to sever the last rebel supply line coming from the north and completely surround Aleppo. However, within days, the rebels launched a large-scale counter-attack south of Aleppo in an attempt to both open a new supply line into rebel-held parts of the city and cut-off the government-held side. The whole campaign, including both the Army's offensive and subsequent rebel counter-offensive, was seen by both sides as possibly deciding the fate of the entire war.

The battle was also notable for the large loss of top rebel field commanders, with about three dozen being killed.

By early September, Syrian government troops had cemented their siege of the rebel part of the city.