Western al-Hasakah offensive

Western al-Hasakah offensive
Part of the Syrian Civil War,
Rojava–Islamist conflict,
and the American-led intervention in Syria


Top: YPG fighters in Tell Tamer
Bottom: Map of the combined al-Hasakah and Tell Abyad offensives
Date23 February – 31 May 2015
(3 months, 1 week and 1 day)
Location
Result

Major YPG and allied forces victory

  • ISIL initially captures 35 villages around Tell Tamer and Manajir, and takes 350–400 Assyrian Christian hostages
  • The YPG and allies recapture all lost territory and expel ISIL from the western al-Hasakah countryside
  • Offensive operations in the Ras al-Ayn countryside expand into the Tell Abyad region on 31 May 2015
Territorial
changes
  • The YPG and allied forces capture the Tell Tamer and Ras al-Ayn countrysides, including 230 towns, villages, and farms, as well the Abd al-Aziz Mountains
  • Belligerents
    Rojava
    Syriac Union Party
    Al-Sanadid Forces
    Air-strikes:
    CJTF–OIR
    Islamic State
    Commanders and leaders
    Sozdar Dêrik
    (YPG General Command member)
    Commander Rûbar Qamishlo 
    (YPG field commander)
    Sharwan Sason
    (YPG field commander)
    Abu Ali al-Anbari
    (Deputy, Syria)
    Abu Omar al-Shishani (Field commander in Syria; first phase only)
    Units involved
    YPG
    YPJ
    Syriac Military Council (MFS)
    Sutoro
    Khabour Guards

    Military of ISIL

    Strength

    YPG & YPJ: 5,500+
    Syriac Military Council (MFS): 1,500

    Sutoro: 1,000+ (June 2013)
    4,000+
    Casualties and losses
    118 killed, 14 executed 539–821 killed (YPG claim)
    268 killed (SOHR claim)
    51–121 civilians killed

    The Western al-Hasakah offensive was a military operation in the spring of 2015, waged between the Kurdish YPG and allied forces against the Islamic State (ISIL) for control of the western half of the Al-Hasakah Governorate, during the Syrian Civil War. The Syrian Kurds' counteroffensive was dubbed Operation Commander Rûbar Qamishlo. During the initial ISIL offensive, Islamic State forces managed to advance up to the western banks of the Khabur River, reaching Tell Tamer and Ras al-Ayn, and capturing dozens of villages, in addition to abducting 350–400 Assyrian Christians as hostages. In the subsequent Kurdish-led counteroffensive, the Kurdish-led forces managed to expel Islamic State forces from the western countryside of the al-Hasakah Governorate, in addition to the Abzulaziz mountain range. On 31 May 2015, as most of the offensive operations in the western Al-Hasakah Governorate ended, the part of the offensive in the Ras al-Ayn District expanded into the Tell Abyad region, in the northern Raqqa Governorate.