Aleppo Conflict Timeline - August 2016

2022

The Battle of Aleppo is undoubtedly the most decisive battle in the exhausting war in Syria. Aleppo being the largest city in the country, adding here the heterogeneous ethno-religious structure of the population, became the strategic node where the fate of the war and the survival of the Assad regime, were largely determined. It is estimated that about 30 different anti-government groups operated in the city. In the most complicated position was the Kurdish-inhabited district, protected by the Kurdish Protection Units (YPG). The multidimensionality of the war will force them to change alliances and attitudes towards other warring parties

2019

Aleppo city has fallen. The Assad Regime has re-imposed its authority over eastern Aleppo. However, the relevancy of the Aleppo Governorate is no less diminished. As the war enters its eighth year, the majority of fighting has shifted north where the many actors have gathered to determine the fate of their claimed territories. Under the control of various militaries, both foreign and domestic, the nearly six million inhabitants of the region are left with little control over who governs them and how. This paper initially served as a response to US President Donald Trump’s announcement that American troops would be removed from Syria. Since then, it has grown into a larger project examining the many actors at play in the governorate, their motives and positions, and the effect US withdrawal will have on the existing balance of power. This paper attempts to detail the reality on the ground and provide insight into the complex nature of a war with shifting alliances and foreign proxies that provides little voice for the civilians who suffer most. Any lasting peace will have to guarantee the free return of all displaced people and equal political representation of all communities in the Governorate of Aleppo, including Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen. To view this paper as published on the Aleppo Project website, click here: https://www.thealeppoproject.com/papers/the-larger-battle-for-aleppo/

President Bashar al-Assad has emerged victorious in the battle for Aleppo, after five years of fighting, killings and widespread destruction. It is the greatest victory for the government, and severest blow to the rebels, in the bloody civil war so far. Many commentators view the quick collapse of eastern Aleppo as the end of a long drawn out revolutionary episode unleashed by the Arab Spring, a disgraceful defeat of the prodemocracy forces and their regional and extraregional supporters. The meaning and significance of the rebels' elimination, in fact, go much deeper than that, and may be the prelude to a new Middle East regional order.

2013

In the wake of the Syrian conflict that has been ongoing for over five years, key cultural sites in the country have been rampaged including the Old city of Aleppo. Despite the tremendous local and international efforts to observe and document the damage to Syrian heritage, little attention is given to the time gap between the conflict and post-conflict reconstruction periods, during which irreversible damage may be inflicted on the heritage. It is of utmost importance to deliver first aid emergency measures once Old Aleppo is accessible in order to stabilize and secure assets, but also to pave the way for an inclusive post-conflict reconstruction process that meets the needs of the affected community.

2016

The city of Aleppo was located within a hundred and ten kilometers of the northern Syrian coasts of the Mediterranean, neither on a fertile nor barren land. Aleppo has always been an important commercial city due to its geographical location and its historical development. Despite geographical advantages and shortcomings, Aleppo could not see Syria's role as the leading economic and political center for a long time. Aleppo remained inactive in Antakya during the classical period and Damascus in the Islamic period. Before the Ottomans, Hittites, Aramis, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans ruled the city. Most of the mosques, monuments and public buildings that shaped the city until the time of the modern turnover belonged to the pre-Ottoman period. Hundreds of inscriptions on these works reminded the city dwellers that their city had a history before arriving here before Ottoman 1516. 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Events in Aleppo are playing an important role in Iran's strategic plan to establish an overland corridor that would give it access to the Mediterranean coast. Since the city's fall, Tehran has been urging non-state groups to come under its wing in return for massive and comprehensive support. The intensification of the Shiite-Sunni conflict acts as a barrier between Iran and its potential clients.