Eastern Qalamoun offensive (April 2018)

Eastern Qalamoun offensive (April 2018)
Part of the Rif Dimashq Governorate campaign (Syrian Civil War) and the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War

Map of the operation
Date17–25 April 2018
(1 week and 1 day)
Location
Result

Decisive Syrian Army and allies victory

  • Syrian Army captures the entirety of the rebel-held eastern Qalamoun pocket
  • Rebels surrender and evacuate from eastern Qalamoun
Belligerents
Syrian Arab Republic
 Russia
Unified Military Command of Eastern Qalamoun 
Jaysh Tahrir al-Sham 
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham 
Commanders and leaders
Maj. Gen. Suheil al-Hassan
(Tiger Forces)
Col. Ghiath Dalla
(42nd Armored Brigade)
Shaher Juma 
(head of rebel negotiations committee in Dumayr)
Units involved
Strength
Unknown 1,500

On 17 April 2018, rebel groups in the eastern Qalamoun Mountains pocket, led by Jaysh al-Islam, reached a surrender agreement with the Syrian Army and Russia. The agreement came after 2 weeks of negotiations that began with a Syrian Army ultimatum on 3 April. Around 1,500 rebels handed over heavy weapons and equipment to the Syrian Army, and were evacuated by 124 buses in 4 convoys to Turkish-held areas in the northern Aleppo Governorate along with their families, totaling around 5,000 people. On 25 April, the last batch of rebels and their families left the eastern Qalamoun pocket, and the region came under full Syrian government control.