[28] Between 27 and 30 June, the al-Nusra-led Army of Conquest, supported by FSA groups, launched the offensive on the Turkmen and Kurd Mountains, capturing several villages before they withdrew under Russian airstrikes.

[46] The next day, the rebels captured the strategically significant village of Saraf and its surrounding hills,[7] before it was recaptured by the Syrian Marines, backed by the NDF and the SSNP, later that night.

[47] Heavy clashes continued around Turkmen Mountain and the village of Bashura, with Islamist rebels attacking government positions amid aerial and artillery bombardment.

[48] On 5 July, Lt. Gen. Ali Abdullah Ayyoub personally inspected the troops in northern Latakia that were preparing the awaited government offensive.

[11] At midnight, heavy clashes between government forces and Islamist fighters took place around the Turkmen Mountain, while airplanes bombed the village of Kabani.

[23] On 8 July, the government launched its counter-offensive, as Syrian Marines, Desert Hawks and Special Forces stormed two locations south of Kinsabba,[22] a hilltop and a nearby village (Shillif).

[56] In the night of 13–14 July, the al-Nusra Front and the Turkistan Islamic Party launched a surprise assault in the area of Kabbani, capturing the Zuwayqat Hills to the village's south.

[64][65] Subsequently, a new Army attack was launched with fighting continuing into 18 July,[64][66] when the military once again took control of the town and its surrounding hills and villages.

Pro-government fighters were forced to retreat south to avoid being overrun, regrouping for a counter-attack later that day,[77] which reversed all rebel gains made.

[86] On 4 August, pro-government forces again launched a counter-attack to recapture the lost territory, targeting the Toubal and Shillif hills overlooking Kinsabba.

[86] In the morning on the next day, they stormed Kinsabba's outskirts, resulting in heavy fighting with the Islamist defenders, who still held all the nearby hills.

[87] Government forces also managed to ambush rebels coming as reinforcements to Kinsabba, killing 16–50 of them,[36][88] then proceeding to capture Toubal hill and Ruwaysat Shams Mountain.

[106] In February 2017, the 1st Coastal Division and the Free Idlib Army bombarded the Shalaf Castle on the Kurd Mountain area where Syrian government forces were stationed with BM-21 Grad rockets.