Fatah Halab
Fatah Halab (Arabic: فتح حلب, romanized: Fataḥ Ḥalab, lit. 'Conquest of Aleppo'), or Aleppo Conquest, was a joint operations room of Syrian rebel factions operating in and around Aleppo, Syria. Succeeding the Aleppo Liberation operations room, its establishment was announced on 26 April 2015.[1][3] It stated that its aim was to conquer Aleppo City from Syrian government forces.[8]
Conquest of Aleppo[1]
Aleppo, Syria (until 1 December 2016)
Aleppo Governorate, Syria (from 1 December 2016)
Aleppo Governorate, Syria (from 1 December 2016 they are no longer active in the city centre)[5]
8,000+ (16 October 2016)[6]
Army of Conquest
Ansar al-Din Front
Ansar al-Islam
Ansar al-Sharia (mid-2015–early 2016)
- Battle of Aleppo[5]
- Aleppo offensive (July 2015)
- Aleppo offensive (October–December 2015)
- Northern Aleppo offensive (February 2016)
- 2016 Southern Aleppo campaign
- Aleppo bombings (April–July 2016)
- 2016 Aleppo summer campaign
- Aleppo offensive (September–October 2016)
- Aleppo offensive (October–November 2016)
- Aleppo offensive (November–December 2016)
- Rojava–Islamist conflict[7]
In an October 2015 publication, the Washington D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War considered Aleppo Conquest as one of the "powerbrokers" in Aleppo Governorate, being both "anti-regime" and "anti-ISIS."[8]
Since the inter-rebel conflicts, defections and mergers which started in December 2016, Fatah Halab has become largely defunct.
The operations room included both US-backed groups[9] and Sunni Islamist groups. It included some groups which also participated in the Sunni Islamist Ansar al-Sharia operations room, but not others, such as al-Nusra Front.[10] Previously al-Nusra coordinated with other groups through the Aleppo Operations Room.[11]
Fatah Halab was originally established by 7 major Sunni Islamist groups on 26 April 2015:[12]
The number of groups in Fatah Halab increased after its founding, and by 18 June 2015 there were 31 groups.[13]
As of October 2016 there were around 8,000 fighters spread out over a myriad of groups of varying sized. The following were the largest groups that participate in the operations room.[14][15]