2012 Homs offensive

2012 Homs offensive
Part of the Siege of Homs and the Early insurgency phase of the Syrian Civil War

Neighbourhoods in Homs under artillery bombardment (8 February 2012).
Date3 February – 14 April 2012
(2 months, 1 week and 4 days)
Location
Homs, Syria
34°43′51″N 36°42′34″E / 34.7308°N 36.7094°E / 34.7308; 36.7094
Result

Syrian Army victory

  • By March 2012, the Syrian security forces retake control of half a dozen districts, leaving them in control of 70 percent of the city[4]
Belligerents

Syrian opposition Syrian National Council

Syria Syrian Arab Republic

Supported by:

 Iran[3]
Commanders and leaders
Lt. Abdul Razzaq Tlass
Col. Ahmed Jumrek †[5]		 Gen. Fo’ad Hamoudeh
Gen. Ghassan Afif[6]             
Gen. Mohamed Maaruf[7]
Units involved
Farouq Brigades
Khalid ibn al-Walid Brigade

4th Division

  • 154th Army Regiment

1st Division

  • 46th Armoured Brigade
  • 42nd Mechanised Brigade
Strength
1,000 fighters[8] 7,000 soldiers[9]
Casualties and losses
140–200 FSA fighters killed
(opposition claim)[10]
Tens of killed[11] and 40 captured[12]
(government claim)		 38 soldiers killed[13][14][15][16]
19 captured[13][15]
700–1,000 civilians and rebels killed overall[17] (per H.R.W. and the opposition, see Deaths below for other estimates)
Note: Numbers of dead are only for the period up to the fall of the Baba Amr district

The 2012 Homs offensive was a Syrian Army offensive on the armed rebellion stronghold of Homs, within the scope of the Siege of Homs, beginning in early February 2012 and ending with the U.N. brokered cease fire on 14 April 2012.

The offensive began by artillery bombardment by the Syrian armed forces in response to an attack by the Free Syrian Army on Syrian Army checkpoints on 3 February 2012, killing 10 soldiers.[13][18] Government forces then began to bombard the city using tanks, helicopters, and artillery, rockets and mortars.[19][20][21] The Syrian government has denied that the bombardment is indiscriminate and blamed "armed groups" for the civilian deaths, including the deaths of foreign journalists.[22]

Heavy shelling continued on 29 February, as the Syrian armed forces launched a ground operation to restore control of the Baba Amr neighbourhood. The Syrian government announced that the army was being sent into the area[23] and were "cleaning" it from rebel fighters, and that the operation would be over in a matter of hours.[24] At this stage, water supplies, electricity and communications were entirely cut off in the Baba Amr district according to opposition activists.[25] Heavy clashes continued throughout the day, as the Syrian Army's 4th Armoured Division sent in tanks and infantry.[9] Baba Amr was finally secured by the Syrian army on the morning of 1 March, as rebel forces claimed they had made a "tactical retreat" from the area, after running low on weapons and ammunition.

  1. ^ "Syria's President ends state of emergency". Buenos Aires Herald. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  2. ^ Nick Thompson (7 April 2012). "Homs: Bloody winter in Syria's revolution capital". CNN. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  3. ^ Iran helped Syria in key early battle
  4. ^ "More than 11,100 killed in Syria in 13 months: NGO". ChannelNewsAsia. Agence France-Presse. 16 April 2012. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference aleppo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "By All Means Necessary!". Human Rights Watch. 16 December 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  7. ^ "Eur-Lex – – En". Official Journal of the European Union. 24 January 2012. Archived from the original on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  8. ^ Syrian rebels pushing back into Baba Amr in Homs, scene of heavy shelling
  9. ^ a b Michael Weiss (1 March 2012). "The Fall of Homs". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
  10. ^ A BBC report stated that 80 percent of those killed were civilians while the rest were FSA fighters,[1] since H.R.W. and the opposition claimed a figure of 700–1,000 fatalities,[2] that would make a total of 140–200 dead opposition fighters
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference forcesbombard was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "A Number of Terrorists Give Themselves up to Authorities at Baba Amro in Homs". Syrian Arab News Agency. 26 February 2012. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  13. ^ a b c "'Hundreds of casualties in Syria's Homs' in army assault on Syria's Homs". Al Jazeera. 4 October 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  14. ^ Syria live blog
  15. ^ a b "Four Law Enforcement Personnel Martyred in Homs and Idleb, 2 Officers and a Woman Found Dead, Tens of Terrorists Surrender". Syrian Arab News Agency. 24 February 2012. Archived from the original on 13 April 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  16. ^ "At least 38 killed across Syria as fierce clashes rage on in rebel towns". Al Arabiya. 5 April 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference SyriaViolence was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ "Syria Live Blog". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  19. ^ Julian Borger; Mona Mahmood (9 February 2012). "Syrian troops bombard sealed-off suburb of Homs". The Guardian.
  20. ^ "City of Homs becomes focus of Syria's uprising". CBS News. Associated Press. 11 February 2012.[dead link‍]
  21. ^ "U.N. Security Council to meet on Syria as violence rages". CNN. 4 February 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  22. ^ "Syria denies massacre of 200 in Homs". CBS News. 1 February 2012. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  23. ^ "Syrian troops move to retake Homs district Baba Amr". The Telegraph. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  24. ^ Oliver Tree (29 February 2012). "Syria Forces Threaten to 'Clean' Rebel City; Assad Branded War Criminal". International Business Times. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  25. ^ "Fresh diplomatic efforts target Syria". CNN. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.