Siege of Menagh Air Base

Siege of Menagh Air Base
Part of the Syrian civil war

Map showing the siege
Date2 August 2012 – 6 August 2013
(1 year and 4 days)
Location
Menagh Air Base, Aleppo, Syria
36°31′19″N 037°2′28″E / 36.52194°N 37.04111°E / 36.52194; 37.04111
Result

Rebel victory[4]

  • Rebels capture the Menagh Air Base
Belligerents

Free Syrian Army
Syrian Islamic Liberation Front
Al-Nusra Front[1]
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant[2]

Syrian Arab Republic

Commanders and leaders

Col. Abdul Jabbar al-Oqaidi[5]
(Aleppo military council)
Amar al-Dadikhi (WIA)[6]
(Northern Storm Brigade)
Capt. Ahmed Ghazali[7][8]
(Northern Storm Brigade)
Abu Marwan[9]
(Northern Storm Brigade)
Abu Omar al-Shishani[10]
(JAMWA and ISIL top commander)
Abu Jandal al-Masri[11][12]
(JAMWA and ISIL commander)

Abu Usamah al-Maghrebi[13][14][15]		 Brig. Gen. Ali Salim Mahmoud †[16]
Col. Naji Abu Shaar †[17]
Units involved

Al-Tawhid Brigade

  • Free North Brigade
    • Qabda al-Shamal Battalion[18]
Conquest Brigade[19]
Northern Storm Brigade[19]
Saladin Ayubi Brigade[20][21]
Northern Commandos Brigade[22]
Al-Sham Swords Brigade[22]
Shahba Hawks Brigade[22]
Al-Buraq Battalions[22]
Kurdish Front Brigade (until May 2013)[23]

Syrian Army

Syrian Air Force

  • 4th Flying Training Squadron[24]
Strength
Several hundred Chechen fighters[10]

300 (as of January 2013)[6]
200+ (as of May 2013)[25]

70[26]–120[27][28][29] (as of August 2013)
47 Mil Mi-8 helicopters (as of August 2012)[24]
Casualties and losses
300 killed[17] 94–100 killed[30][31]
5+ Mil Mi-8s destroyed or captured[32]
Menagh Air Base is located in Syria
Menagh Air Base
Menagh Air Base
class=notpageimage|
Location within Syria

The siege of Menagh Air Base (also spelled Menegh, Mannagh, or Minakh) was an armed confrontation between the Syrian Armed Forces and the Free Syrian Army and aligned Islamist opposition groups during the Syrian civil war.[33]

  1. ^ CNN, 22 January 2013, Rebels in northern Syria pin hopes on airbase's downfall
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference reuters050813 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ New York Times, 5 August 2013, Rebels Gain Control of Government Air Base in Syria
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference english.alarabiya.net was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Anne Barnard; Eric Schmitt (8 August 2013). "As Foreign Fighters Flood Syria, Fears of a New Extremist Haven". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference atwar.blogs.nytimes.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Paul Schemm (7 September 2012). "Syria's rebels struggle to tame Assad's air power". The Times of Israel. Associated Press.
  8. ^ Elliot Higgins (1 May 2013). "Brigadier General Salim Idris And Lebanese Cleric Sheikh Ahmad Al-Aseer Take A Trip To Syria". Brown Moses Blog.
  9. ^ Richard Hall, The Independent, 24 January 2013, If Syria's rebels can't take The Fortress, how can they take the capital?
  10. ^ a b "Ex-Soviet exiles: One of Daesh's deadliest weapons". Daily Sabah. 4 July 2016.
  11. ^ Al-Tamimi (2013), pp. 24, 25.
  12. ^ Rania Abouzeid (26 September 2013). "Syrian Opposition Groups Stop Pretending". The New Yorker.
  13. ^ http://www.chechensinsyria.com/?p=22334
  14. ^ "Moroccan "Emirs of Jihad", al-Massae (Morocco), 8 June 2014". 27 September 2014.
  15. ^ https://www.religion.info/pdf/2014_04_Caillet.pdf&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwit6-zR6LnZAhXCmuAKHZuGAAY4ChAWCBIwAg&usg=AOvVaw1uvz10tswoQqCqxG265j0z[permanent dead link‍]
  16. ^ SYRIAN REBELS ENTER NORTHERN AIR BASE Archived 2014-02-02 at the Wayback Machine Associated Press,5 May 2013
  17. ^ a b Syria civil war: State-of-the-art technology gives President Assad’s army the edge
  18. ^ Bolling (2012), p. 1.
  19. ^ a b Jones (2017), p. 58.
  20. ^ Sherine Omar (1 July 2015). "A leader in the Salah al-Din brigade of the "Union Press": We have more than twenty prisoners to the PYD". Al-Etihad Press. Archived from the original on 18 November 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  21. ^ "Captain Bewar Mustafa: BKK prevents the entry of relief materials to Afrin". Kobani Kurd. 11 June 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2018.[permanent dead link‍]
  22. ^ a b c d "The FSA takes control of Meng Military Airport and seizes 14 military helicopters". Orient News. 5 August 2013.
  23. ^ Sheikho, Youssef (28 May 2013). "Syria: Border Clashes Pit FSA Against Kurds". Al-Akhbar. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  24. ^ a b Bolling (2012), p. 7.
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference ReferenceA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference capturekey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference sway was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference blow was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  29. ^ Cite error: The named reference seize was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  30. ^ "Corpses of fallen soldiers from Minnigh Airbase retrieved after 3 years". Archived from the original on 2016-11-09. Retrieved 2016-11-08.
  31. ^ Regime forces are transporting 100 corpses from Menegh military airport to Damascus
  32. ^ Cooper (2015), p. 52.
  33. ^ Daily Telegraph, 30 October 2012, Syria: rebels battle for control of regime military bases