Fatah Halab ( ar, فتح حلب, Fataḥ Ḥalab, lit=Conquest of Aleppo), or Aleppo Conquest, was a joint operations room of

Syrian rebel A number of states and armed groups have involved themselves in the ongoing Syrian Civil War as belligerents. Syrian Arab Republic and allies A number of sources have emphasized that as of at least late-2015/early-2016 the Syrian Arab Republic ...

factions operating in and around

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

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 ...

. Succeeding the Aleppo Liberation operations room, its establishment was announced on 26 April 2015. It stated that its aim was to conquer Aleppo City from Syrian government forces. In an October 2015 publication, the Washington D.C.-based

Institute for the Study of War The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is a United States–based think tank founded in 2007 by Kimberly Kagan, providing research and analysis regarding issues of defense and foreign affairs. It has produced reports on the Syrian War, the Wa ...

considered Aleppo Conquest as one of the "powerbrokers" in

Aleppo Governorate Aleppo Governorate ( ar, محافظة حلب / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab'' / ) is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is the most populous governorate in Syria with a population of more than 4,867,000 (2011 Est.), almost 23% of t ...

, being both "anti-regime" and "anti-

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

." Since the inter-rebel conflicts, defections and mergers which started in December 2016, Fatah Halab has become largely defunct.

Member groups

The operations room included both US-backed groups and

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a dis ...

Islamist groups. It included some groups which also participated in the Sunni Islamist

Ansar al-Sharia Ansar al-Sharia or Ansar al-Shariah is a name used by a collection of radical or militant Islamist groups or militias, in at least eight countries. While they share names and ideology, they lack a unified command structure. *Ansar al-Sharia (Yemen ...

operations room, but not others, such as

al-Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...

. Previously al-Nusra coordinated with other groups through the ''Aleppo Operations Room''. Fatah Halab was originally established by 7 major Sunni Islamist groups on 26 April 2015: *

Levant Front The Levant Front ( ar, الجبهة الشامية, al-Jabhat aš-Šāmiyya, Jabhat al-Shamiyah, also translated as the Sham Front or the Levantine Front) is a Syrian rebel group based around Aleppo involved in the Syrian Civil War. It was form ...

Ahrar al-Sham Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya ( ar-at, حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية, Ḥarakat Aḥrāru š-Šām al-Islāmiyah, lit=Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition ...

Sham Legion The Sham Legion ( ar, فَيْلَق الشَّام, ''Faylaq al-Shām'') is an alliance of Sunni Islamist rebel groups formed in March 2014, during the Syrian Civil War. The alliance was formed from 19 different groups, some of which were previ ...

* Levant Revolutionaries Battalions * Army of Islam *

Fastaqim Union The Fastaqim Kama Umirt Union ( ar-at, تجمعُ فاستقم كما أمرتَ, Tajammuʿ Fastaqim Kamā Umirt, lit=Union of Be Upright as Ordered) is a rebel group active during the Syrian Civil War. History Operations of the main faction ...

* Dawn of Caliphate Battalions The number of groups in Fatah Halab increased after its founding, and by 18 June 2015 there were 31 groups. there were around 8,000 fighters spread out over a myriad of groups of varying sized. The following were the largest groups that participate in the operations room. * 1st Regiment * Liberation Army ** 46th Division *

Army of Mujahideen Jaysh al-Mujahideen , native_name_lang= Ar , war = the Syrian Civil War , image = Flag of the Army of Mujahedeen (Syria).svg , caption = Logo of the Army of Mujahideen , active = 2 January 2014 – 25 January 2017 , ide ...

** Atarib Martyrs Brigade * Levant Revolutionaries Battalions ** Banners of Islam Movement *

Authenticity and Development Front The Authenticity and Development Front ( ar, جبهة الأصالة والتنمية; ''Jabhat al-'asalah wa'l-tanmiyah'') is an alliance of rebel groups that is active during the Syrian Civil War. The alliance is considered to be moderate by ...

(mostly defunct since November 2016) *

Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement The Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement ( ar, حركة نور الدين الزنكي ''Ḥaraka Nūr ad-Dīn az-Zankī'') was a Sunni Islamist rebel group involved in the Syrian Civil War. In 2014, it was reportedly one of the most influential factio ...

(until October 2016) *

Sultan Murad Division The Sultan Murad Division ( ar, فرقة السلطان مراد; ''Firqat al-Sultan Murad'', tr, Sultan Murat Tümeni) is an armed rebel group in the Syrian Civil War, created around a Syrian Turkmen identity. It is aligned with the Syrian op ...

** Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror Brigade *

Free Idlib Army The Free Idlib Army ( ''Jaysh ʾIdlib al-Ḥarr'') is a Syrian rebel coalition consisting of 3 armed groups from northwestern Syria affiliated with the Free Syrian Army: the 13th Division, the Northern Division, and the Mountain Hawks Brigade. ...

Mountain Hawks Brigade The Mountain Hawks Brigade ( ar-at, لواء صقور الجبل, Liwa’ Suqour al-Jabal), known as the Hawks of Mount Zawiya Brigade ( ar, لواء صقور جبل الزاويه, Liwa' Suqour Jabal al-Zawiya) between 2012 and 2015 and the Moun ...

** Northern Division ** 13th Division * 101st Infantry Division *

Army of Glory The Army of Glory ( ar, جيش العزة, Jaysh al-Izza), formerly the Union of Glory ( ar, تجمع العزة, Tajamu‘ al-‘Izza, links=no), is a Syrian rebel group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army active in northwestern Syria, mainly i ...

* Central Division ** Sword of God Brigade * Army of Islam *

Army of Victory The Army of Victory ( ar, ; Jaysh al-Nasr) is an armed opposition faction participating in the Syrian Civil War. Founded in August 2015 as a joint operations room of 16 member groups, three of the groups later fully merged into Jaysh al-Nasr ...

* Criterion Brigades (former) *

Conquest Brigade , war = the Syrian Civil War , image = Conquest Brigade logo.jpg , image_size = 200px , caption = Logo of the militia , active = 2012 – ''present'' , ideology = Sunni Islamism * Salafi ...

* Liwa al-Haqq *

Jaysh al-Sunna Jaysh al-Sunna ( ar, جيش السنة) was a Homs-based Islamist rebel group that was established as a merger between different rebel groups, some of which originally came from the Free Syrian Army's Farouq Brigades, and is active during the Sy ...

* Elite Islamic Battalions * Islamic Freedom Brigade * Dawn of Caliphate Battalions * Bayan Movement * 16th Division (largely dissolved in July 2016, succeeded by 23rd Division) Major Yasser Abdul Rahim

War crimes

On 13 May 2016,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

accused the Fatah Halab coalition of "repeated indiscriminate attacks that may amount to war crimes". It also reported their alleged use of

chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as a ...

. A

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

report in February 2017 came to the conclusion that during the siege of Eastern Aleppo Fatah Halab, after vowing to take revenge on

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

in Sheikh Maqsoud, intentionally attacked civilian inhabited neighbourhoods of the Kurdish enclave, killing and maiming dozens of civilians, and that these acts constitute the war crime of directing attacks against a civilian population.

References

Sources

* {{Syrian Civil War Anti-government factions of the Syrian civil war Anti-ISIL factions in Syria Operations rooms of the Syrian civil war Aleppo Governorate in the Syrian civil war

Member groups

War crimes

See also

References

Sources