2014 Latakia offensive

2014 Latakia offensive
	Part of the Syrian civil war
	; Syrian Army control Opposition control
Date	21 March – 15 June 2014; (2 months, 3 weeks and 4 days)
Location	Latakia Governorate, Syria
Result	Syrian government victory
Belligerents
Al-Nusra Front; Junud al-Sham; Harakat Sham al-Islam; Islamic Front Ahrar ash-Sham; Ansar al-Sham; Free Syrian Army Supported by:; Turkey; United States	Syrian Arab Republic Syrian Armed Forces Suqur al-Sahara; ; National Defense Forces; Syrian Resistance; Ba'ath Brigades; Hezbollah
Commanders and leaders
Unknown top provincial Al-Nusra commander † (Nusra Front commander); Abu Ahmed al-Turkmani; (Nusra Front commander); Muslim Abu Walid al Shishani (Junud al-Sham commander); Abu Musa al-Shishani (Ansar al-Sham commander); Abu al Hassan (Ahrar ash-Sham commander); Ibrahim Bin Shakaran † (Harakat Sham al-Islam commander); Abu Safiya Al-Masri † (Harakat Sham al-Islam deputy commander); Brig. Gen. Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir (FSA Chief of staff); Anas Abu Malik (Latakia FSA commander)	Lt. Gen. Ali Abdullah Ayyoub (Army Chief of staff); Hilal al-Assad † (Latakia NDF commander); Mihrac Ural (Syrian Resistance commander); Hussam Khadra † (Latakia Ba'ath Brigades commander); Col. Samuel Ghannum † (Observatory 45 commander)
Strength
4,000 fighters	Unknown
Casualties and losses
582 killed (opposition claim); ; 2,700 killed and 5,635 wounded (government claim; by 30 March)	571 killed (opposition claim); ; 50 killed (government claim; by 26 March) 1 MiG-23 shot down by Turkish Air Force
	11 civilians killed

The 2014 Latakia offensive was a rebel offensive in the Latakia Governorate of Syria launched on 21 March 2014 by rebel Islamist groups including Al-Nusra Front, which called the offensive "Anfal", while a coalition of Supreme Military Council rebel groups called the offensive "The Martyrs Mothers". The objectives of the offensive have been stated to be the taking over of all strategic observatories, government villages and the Mediterranean coast. Observers have stated a strategic aim was to force the Syrian army to redeploy forces to Latakia, which would relieve pressure on other rebels elsewhere in Syria. They reportedly succeeded in this with government forces being sent from Idlib, Hama and Aleppo to bolster defenses.

During the offensive the Syrian military was joined by Hezbollah, Iraqi Shi'ite militia and Iranian military advisers. After almost two months of fighting, the offensive stalled and eventually petered out, with rebels losing most of their early gains. However, the rebels' established strategic bridgehead consisting of the town of Kessab and nearby territory remained. By mid-June a new advance by government forces recaptured the last rebel gains of the campaign, including Kessab.

The offensive, and in particular the degree of Turkish involvement in it, has been widely attributed with the deportation of the native ethnic Armenians of the town of Kessab, who make up 70% of its population, and has been compared with the past Turkish killings of Armenians during the Hamidian massacres and Armenian genocide.

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