Mare' ( ''Māriʿ'', locally pronounced ''Mēreʿ''), also spelled Marea, is a town in northern

Aleppo Governorate Aleppo Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Ḥalab'' ) is one of the fourteen Governorates of Syria, 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 the t ...

, northwestern Syria. It is the largest town and administrative centre of the Mare' nahiyah in the Azaz District. Located some 25 kilometers north of the city of

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

, the town has a population of 16,904 as per the 2004 census. Nearby localities include Shaykh Issa and Tell Rifaat to the west, A'zaz to the northwest, Dabiq to the northeast,

al-Bab Al-Bab ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Bāb'') is a Syrian city, administratively belonging to the Aleppo Governorate. Al-Bab is located northeast of Aleppo, south of the Turkish border, and has an area of . Al-Bab has an altitude of . According to the Cen ...

to the southeast, and Maarat Umm Hawsh and Herbel to the south.

Syrian Civil War

Mare' was affected by the ongoing Syrian uprising against the government of

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

. The Ibn Walid brigade of the opposition

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...

was formed in the town in August 2012. The Mare' Operations Room was, as well, based around the town. In January 2015, Mare' was controlled by the Islamic Front. However, the capture of the nearby town of Dabiq in early 2015 by the

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

threatened the town of Mare'. One of the largest rebel-controlled towns close to the front-line of Islamic State territory, Mare' produced a salient that ISIS attempted to reduce in a number of minor offensives against the town which continued until May 2016. During the Northern Aleppo offensive in February 2016,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n airstrikes preceded an assault by Kurdish YPG militias, forcing the overwhelming majority of the population to escape towards other rebel-controlled territories or across the border into

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The Turkish government declared Mare' to be part of a red line which Kurdish forces must not cross. The YPG advance put Mare' on the frontlines with SDF forces to the west, Syrian Army forces to the south, and

forces to the east. In August 2016, Mare' was reportedly controlled by the FSA. Following

's launch of

Operation Euphrates Shield Operation Euphrates Shield () was an offensive by the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army, which led to the Turkish occupation of northern Syria. Operations were carried out in the region between the Euphrates river to th ...

, the 2016 Dabiq offensive in September 2016 pushed the

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

front-line back, removing the imminent threat posed to the town.

References

Populated places in Azaz District {{AleppoSY-geo-stub