First Battle of Idlib

The First Battle of Idlib was a battle that was fought in the city of Idlib, located in the north of Syria, starting on 10 March 2012. The battle took place in a province considered a stronghold of the armed opposition to the Syrian government and was fought in the wider context of the Syrian Army trying to retake several rebel strongholds. After three days of fighting, the Syrian Army recaptured the city.

Background

Prior to the battle, there were months of clashes around Idlib which had seen the rebels taking over the city.

As early as 12 February, it was reported that the opposition forces within the city of Idlib were under preparations for the "inevitable attack" by Syrian Army troops.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission reported that 54 people were killed by security force gunfire across Syria on 15 February, with most of the deaths in Idlib. The LCC put the number of deaths in Idlib at 11 fatalities. Chinese media reported photos of Idlib residents escaping a tank attack on the city.

Second Battle of Idlib

The Second Battle of Idlib ("Operation to Free Idlib") was a military operation in the Idlib Governorate, during the Syrian Civil War, conducted by rebels against Syrian government forces defending Idlib city.

The battle

On 24 March 2015, the newly established Fattah Army operation room ("The Army of Conquest") urged people in Idlib city to remain indoors. Later that day, two fighters from Jund al-Aqsa blew themselves up near Army checkpoints, on the eastern side of the city, followed by a three-pronged assault on Idlib. The rebels took control of the Sadkop Factory at the eastern outskirts of the Industrial District and advanced towards the Old Textile Factory before soldiers from the 11th Tank Division arrived to reinforce the NDF and push back rebel fighters to the east, securing the perimeter around the Idlib Public Cemetery. Meanwhile, at the northwestern entrance to Idlib, the rebels attacked a number of NDF checkpoints, reaching the northern side of the Youth Housing. Overall during the day, the rebels captured seven checkpoints, but the Army managed to recapture four of them, including reportedly re-securing the northern perimeter of the Youth Housing.

Idlib

Idlib (Arabic: ادلب‎, also spelled Edlib or Idleb) is a city in northwestern Syria, capital of the Idlib Governorate, and 59 kilometers (37 mi) south west of Aleppo. It has an elevation of nearly 500 meters (1,600 ft) above sea level. In the 2004 census by the Central Bureau of Statistics, Idlib had a population of 98,791 (2004 census) and in 2010 the population of Idlib was around 165,000 (2010 census). The inhabitants are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims, although there is a significant Christian minority. Idlib is divided into six main districts: Ashrafiyeh (the most populous), Hittin, Hejaz, Downtown, Hurriya, and al-Qusur.

A major agricultural center of Syria, the Idlib area is also historically significant, containing many "dead cities" and man-made tells. Idlib contains the ancient city of Ebla, once the capital of a powerful kingdom. ancient kingdoms of Nuhašše and Luhuti flourished in the Governorate during the Bronze and Iron ages.

History

Ottoman era

During the Ottoman era of rule in Syria, between the 16th and 19th centuries, Idlib served as the capital of a kada ("subdistrict capital") bearing its name, part of the larger Vilayet of Aleppo ("Province of Aleppo.") The city was a center of olive production, which in turn gave way to a prosperous olive-based soap industry. Although the major markets for Idlib's soap were at Aleppo, Antioch, and Hama, the product was exported as far as the Ottoman capital of Istanbul. Idlib was also a major producer of cotton fabrics. Western traveler Josias Leslie Porter noted that Idlib was "encompassed in olive groves, rare in this bleak region." He further remarked that its olives groves were larger than those of Damascus, Beirut, and Gaza. In the mid-19th-century, the town had an estimated population of 8,000, including 500 Christians. In the late 19th-century, Idlib was "flourishing" and contained a number of Christian families, according to German writers working for Karl Baedeker.