Syrian Government offensive At 10 A.M. (Damascus Time) on the morning of 16 October, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) – in coordination with Hezbollah, the National Defense Forces (NDF), and Al-Ba'ath Battalions – launched their large-scale southern Aleppo offensive after almost one year of inactivity along this rural area in the Azzan Mountains. According to field reports from the provincial capital, the Syrian Armed Forces and Hezbollah captured four sites from the Islamist rebels of Jabhat Al-Shamiyah (Levantine Front), Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, and the Free Syrian Army (FSA), killing a number of combatants in the process of their advance in the Aleppo Governorate's southern countryside. On 17 October, government forces backed by Shi'ite militia captured several villages, along with the Defense Battalion Base and the farms surrounding it. The counterattack was carried out by Sham Revolutionary Brigades and Division 13, the latter a
CIA-funded secular group, with videos showing a
TOW missile attack destroying a bulldozer and later capturing a
BMP-1. On 19 October, government forces captured three hills. The commander of the
Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki rebel group was killed in the fighting during the day. Since the beginning of the offensive, the Army lost at least 11 armored vehicles to
TOW AT missiles, according to the
SOHR. On 20 October, a rebel official stated the "losses are heavy on both sides and the regime’s advance is very slow". Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people reportedly fled the southern Aleppo countryside. Between 21 and 22 October, government forces took control of seven more villages. By this time, government forces reportedly lost at least 15 tanks, armored vehicles and bulldozers since the offensive begun.
ISIL offensives and first rebel counterattack On 23 October, ISIL launched an attack on the Khanaser-Ethria highway (the main government supply route between Hama and Aleppo), after detonating two
VBIED's, and captured of a road. Subsequently, government forces recaptured some parts of it. The clashes over the next 24 hours left 28 ISIL fighters and 21 soldiers dead. Elsewhere, 24 rebels, including the military leader of the Thwar al-Sham battalions and a commander of the
Army of Mujahedeen, were killed in the southern Aleppo countryside, while a rebel spokesman claimed that SAA losses of vehicles had reached 21. At the end of the day, the rebels recaptured al-Hamra village, while government forces reportedly recaptured most of the Khanaser-Ethria highway. On 24 October, Army sources reported that it had recaptured the western outskirts of Ithriyah, however the main supply route to Aleppo remained cut off. That day, a second leader in the Nur al-Din Zanki Movement was killed, while a rebel and NDF commander were wounded. The number of government fighters killed at the Khanaser-Ethria highway rose to at least 43. At the end of the day, ISIL launched an attack on the eastern suburbs of Aleppo city and captured Tal Reeman and Al-Salihiyah, before government fighters could repel their further attacks with the help of Russian airplanes. On 25 October, rebels attacked, captured and eventually lost the strategically important cement plant area on the outskirts of Aleppo's Sheikh Saeed neighborhood after heavy clashes that led to the death of 14 government fighters and 10 rebels. Meanwhile, government forces reportedly recaptured two checkpoints along the Khanaser-Ethria highway, before a sandstorm forcibly halted all military operations in Aleppo. According to the SOHR, ISIL was still in control of parts of the highway, blocking the main supply route to Aleppo. The next day, ISIL also attacked the strategical town of As-Safira in southeastern Aleppo after detonating four VBIED's in the area. ISIL captured "key" military positions near the town and managed to enter Tel Aran. ISIL also managed to enter the northern district of As-Safira, but were pushed out with the help of reinforcements. Later that day, government forces regained their positions in the al-Safira area. On 28 October, Russian airstrikes bombed a rebel headquarters in the Aleppo countryside and killed at least 7 rebels. and repelled ISIL at Sheikh Hilal and Al-Sa’an. Between 31 October and 2 November, the SAA and its allies captured six villages in the southern countryside of Aleppo, as the rebels withdrew to their stronghold at
Al-Hadher. A rebel counter-attack was reportedly unsuccessful. On 2 November, ISIL captured the village of Ta’anah and its hill from Syrian troops, while the rebels reportedly recaptured "wide parts" of Jabal al-Banjira. The next day, government forces recaptured Al-Ta’anah. . On 4 November, government troops regained control over the Khanasser–Ithriya Highway after twelve days of clashes with ISIL, killing seven fighters, four through beheading. While retreating towards al-Tabbaqa, a huge ISIS convoy was reportedly struck by Russian aircraft killing more than 50 militants in the airstrike. On 5 November, rebels recaptured two villages but despite this, the Army captured the town of Kafr Haddad. On 8 November, government forces captured three villages positioned directly south of Al-Hadhir, two of which the rebels retook the next day. The SAA re-took one of them on 10 November, as well as a further three. By the end of 11 November, the rebels recaptured several areas, but the military continued its advances on 12 November with the capture of five more villages, as well as the key rebel town of Al-Hader. On 13 November, government forces captured four villages and a hill, thus taking control of of territory. By the end of the day, they broke through to the west, capturing two villages and the
ICARDA base, adjacent to the Idlib–Aleppo highway, cutting the road. On 17 November, government forces captured Khalasah (known as Halash), after they advance from the nearby village Al-Hamraa. On the next day, rebels recaptured the Banes farms. On 20 November, government troops captured Burj Al-Rumman and advanced to the village of Al-‘Umariyah, to the south-west of Al-Safira. At this point, the military halted their offensive, in expectation of the arrival of new
T-90 tanks, which would come by the end of the month.
Second rebel counterattack On 21 November, rebels launched a counter-offensive at
Tal al-Eiss, By 23 November, the rebels recaptured seven villages and two hills. Al-Nusra seized a number of US-made Humvees from Shia militia near Tal Mamou. On 28 November, the rebels recaptured al-Maryoudah village. However, by 29 November, the rebel assault on the southern perimeter of the village Al-Aziziyah failed from their positions at village Al-Makalah, and they withdrew to the south in order to evade air assaults from the Russian and Syrian Air Forces.
Syrian Army captures Khan Touman Between 3 and 7 December, Syrian government forces recaptured three villages and two hills. On 8 December, the rebels recaptured the village of Banes, the same day that government sources announced a third phase of the Southern Aleppo Offensive. Between 12 and 13 December, government forces captured up to seven villages. On 20 December, the Syrian Army captured the strategic town of
Khan Tuman, as well as two nearby villages, several hills and the Khan Touman Ammunition Depot, along the Aleppo-Damascus Highway (M-5 Highway), cutting the primary rebel supply route from the provincial capital of the Idlib province toward the provincial capital of the Aleppo province. The Al-Zarbeh Poultry Farm was also seized. On the next day, government forces advanced further around Khan Tuman, taking control of two villages and two hills. ==Aftermath==