Battle of al-Bab

Battle of al-Bab
Part of the Operation Euphrates Shield and the Syrian Civil War

Map of the wider Turkish-led operations and the wider campaigns in northern Aleppo
  Syrian Armed Forces and allied groups
  Syrian Democratic Forces
  Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
  FSA groups and Turkish troops in Northern Syria
Date6 November 2016 – 23 February 2017
(3 months, 2 weeks and 3 days)
Location
Al-Bab District, Aleppo Governorate, Syria
Result

Turkish and SNA victory

Belligerents
 Turkey
Syrian opposition Syrian National Army
Support:
Russia (against ISIL only; since 29 Dec. 2016)[1]
 United States (against ISIL only, since 17 Jan. 2017)[2]		  Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Syrian Democratic Forces (until 27 November 2016)

Syrian Arab Republic[4]

Hezbollah[5][6] Syrian National Resistance[4][7]
Syrian Resistance[8]

Support:
Russia (against ISIL only)[9]
Commanders and leaders

Turkey Lt. Gen. Zekai Aksakallı[25]
(Operations chief commander)
Turkey Lt. Gen. İsmail Metin Temel[26][27]
(Second Army commander)
Syrian opposition Col. Ahmed Othman[28]
(Sultan Murad Division commander)
Syrian opposition Fehim İsa (Sultan Murad Division commander)[29]
Mahmoud Abu Hamza[30] (Descendants of Saladin Brigade commander)
Syrian opposition Capt. Yussuf Shibli[31] (Qabasin Military Council commander)
Capt. Abdel Salam Abdel Razaq[30] (Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement commander)
Capt. Mohammed Abu Mustafa[32]
(Sham Legion commander)
Abu Jafer[33] (Brigade of Conquest commander)

Syrian opposition Zakariya Wali[34] (WIA)
(Mehmed the Conqueror Brigade military commander)

Islamic State Abu Khalid al-Urduni † (ISIL Governor of al-Bab)[35]
Islamic State Abu Husen Tunisi †[36]
(ISIL emir)
Islamic State Abu Ansari †[37]
(ISIL emir)

Islamic State Jonathan Jeffrey (a.k.a. Abu Ibrahim Al-Francy)  (POW)[38][39]
(French ISIL leader in al-Bab)		 Adnan Abu Amjad[40] (Manbij Military Council & Northern Sun Battalion commander)
Anwar Khabat[41] (Euphrates Liberation Brigade commander)
Units involved

Turkey Turkish Armed Forces

Syrian opposition Hawar Kilis Operations Room

Other Syrian rebels:

Military of ISIL

Syrian Democratic Forces

Syrian Armed Forces

Kafr Saghir Martyrs Brigade[4][57]
Strength
Turkey 1,300–4,000 soldiers[58][59][60][61]
40 tanks originally, 10 reinforcements[62]
15+ APCs[63]
Syrian opposition 2,000–3,000 rebel fighters[61][64]		 3,000–5,000 militants[61][65]

Unknown

Syria 10,000 soldiers[citation needed]
Casualties and losses
Turkey 59 killed[66]
8-10 Leopard 2 tanks destroyed, at least 2 captured.[67]
Syrian opposition 500+ killed[68]		 1,348+ killed (Turkish and SAA claims)[69]

46 killed[70]

Syria 13+ killed[71]
444 civilians killed[72]
30,000+ civilians fled[citation needed]

The Battle of al-Bab was a battle for the city of al-Bab in the Aleppo Governorate that included a military offensive launched by Syrian rebel groups (including groups affiliated with the Free Syrian Army) and the Turkish Armed Forces north of al-Bab, a separate Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) offensive east and west of the city, and another Syrian Army offensive from the south of the city. The northern Turkish-led forces intended to capture al-Bab from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as part of the Turkish military intervention in Syria. By the end of the battle, the Turkish-led forces had captured al-Bab, Qabasin, and Bizaah, while the Syrian Army captured Tadef and other areas further south, with the SDF making gains further to the east and the west.

The battle was concurrent with the other anti-ISIL operations, including the Raqqa campaign launched by the SDF, the Battle of Mosul launched by the Iraqi forces, and the Palmyra offensive, which was successfully conducted by ISIL against Syrian government forces. It was also claimed by Kurds to be the result of an "Aleppo for al-Bab" agreement between the Syrian government and Turkey, with Turkey withdrawing its support to rebels in Aleppo in exchange to laisser-faire up to al-Bab, thus cutting short the possibility of an East-West Kurdish corridor.[73]

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  66. ^ 71 soldiers reported killed since the start of the intervention "El Bab'da 2 asker şehit oldu - POLİTİKA haberleri" [2 soldiers killed in El-Bab]. www.dha.com.tr (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
    of which 12 died up until the Battle of al-Bab,[1] Archived 2017-06-07 at the Wayback Machine leaving 59 to have died during the battle
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  70. ^ 26 killed (against rebels & Turkey; 13 Nov.–28 Dec.),"El Bab'da 'temizlik' son aşamada". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 2021-12-15. 19 killed (against ISIL; 21–29 Nov.),[2]"A large number of injuries in the continued "Turkish Shelling" on the control areas of Manbij Military Council | Syrian Observatory for Human Rights". Archived from the original on 2016-12-02. Retrieved 2016-11-30."In 48 hours... the Syria Democratic Forces held funerals for 20 of their fighters who were killed in fronts of Raqqah and Aleppo | Syrian Observatory for Human Rights". Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2017-02-13. total of 45 reported killed
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