On 1 January, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a monitor based in the United Kingdom, reported that its activists had documented several Russian and government airstrikes in Northwest Syria.
[1] On the same day in territories controlled by the government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Northeastern Syria, according to SOHR, at least 10 Russian airstrikes targeted positions of Islamic State (ISIL) cells in the Al-Rusafa desert, north-east of Raqqa city.
[3] Also on 2 January, according to SOHR, Turkish forces shelled Fatima village in the Ain Issa countryside in the Tell Abyad District of Raqqa Governorate, an area controlled by the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), injuring an SDF fighter who died three days later.
[9] On 6 January, in the continuing Russian-ISIL conflict in Northeastern Syria, SOHR reported that three Syrian soldiers were killed and 2 others were wounded in an ISIS ambush in the Al-Rusafa desert northeast of Raqqa city.
[16][17] On 13 January, Anwar Raslan, a government intelligence officer, was found guilty by a German court after a 108 day trial to have overseen the murder of at least 27 people, torture of at least 4,000, two cases of rape and various other crimes at the Branch 251 prison in Damascus.
[18] Also on 13 January, SOHR reported that ISIL operatives attacked positions of pro-government militias in the desert near the city of Abu Kamal, Deir ez-Zor Governorate, killing five National Defence Forces (NDF) militiamen and wounding 14 others.
[33] On 21 January, SOHR reported that two fighters of the Tell Tamer Military Council (which is allied to AANES and the SDF) were killed after a Turkish drone strike on their positions on a road near Twina village north of Al-Hasakah city.
[35] On the same day, SOHR reported, Russian or Syrian warplanes killed 73 civilians in a series of airstrikes on the settlements of Khisham, Tabiyah, Jazirah and Al-Bulil, in opposition-controlled parts of Deir Ezzor.
[40] On 28 January, SOHR reported that two fighters of the pro-Assad Al-Qatarji militia were found dead along the bank of the Euphrates River after being killed by unknown gunmen in al-Bolil village, where they were stationed.
[41] On 29 January, unknown gunmen, suspected to by ISIL operatives, killed four Syrian government soldiers as they slept at their outpost in the settlement of Bakras Tahtani in the Deir ez-Zor countryside.
[41] On 30 January, as tensions were growing between SNA factions in Northwestern Syria, SOHR reported that a commander of the Turkish-backed Al-Hamza Division was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the city of Al-Bab.
[86] On 19 February, as part of the ongoing Daraa insurgency, the SOHR documented the deaths of 2 Syrian soldiers after being shot dead by unknown gunmen near the roundabout in the city of Al-Shaykh Maskin.
[90] On 21 February, the SOHR documented that 5 militiamen of the Pro-Assad Baqir Brigade were killed after their bus drove over a landmine planted by suspected IS operatives in the Itheriya desert near the city of Raqqa.
On 3 March, a Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter was shot dead by ISIL operatives in the town of Abu Hamam, in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate, the SOHR reported.
[133] On 29 March, two SDF fighters were found dead two days after being abducted by suspected ISIS militants from a military checkpoint at the Al-Safafnna water station, in the eastern Deir ez-Zor countryside.
[140] On 2 April, a fighter of HTS was killed and 3 others were wounded after a skirmish broke out with Syrian Arab Army (SAA) forces on al-Fatera village frontline, in the southern Idlib countryside.
[145] On 6 April, in the early hours of the morning, seven fighters of the Levant Front, including a commander, were killed in an attack by unidentified gunmen on a military checkpoint on the road between Azaz and the Bab Al-Salama border crossing with Turkey.
[150] On 8 April, the Association of Detainees and the Missing in Sednaya Prison (ADMSP) reported that more than $1.5bn in personal property, including cars, olive groves, shops, houses, electronics and jewellery, had been seized by the government from citizens accused of joining opposition protests in the previous decade.
[184] Later the same day, 7 people were shot dead and 4 others were injured after ISIS militants conducted a massacre in the house of the chief of the relations office of Deir ez-Zor Civil Council in the town of Abu Khashab.
[185][186] On 30 April, four militiamen of Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada were killed and six others were injured after ISIS militants ambushed their patrol near Ark village, on the highway between Palmyra and Deir ez-Zor in the Syrian desert.
[211] On May 13, at least 10 Pro-Assad Shia militiamen were killed after opposition forces fired a guided missile at a Syrian military bus on the Qabtan Al-Jabal frontlines in the western Aleppo countryside.
[284] On 22 June, a government convoy was attacked by machine-gun fire near the town of Dumayr, northeast of Damascus,[282] and a militant of Al-Fatah al-Mubin was reportedly blown up and killed by a landmine in the village of Tell Afis on the Idlib frontline.
[336] The same day, a fighter of the Iraqi Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba was killed and several others were injured after ISIS militants attacked their military vehicle near Al-Kom and Al-Tabiya villages in eastern Homs countryside.
[394][395][396] In the evening of 24 August, pro-Iranian militias executed a missile attack on the Conoco site and Green Village near al-Omar oil field which had injured three U.S. military service members.
[403] On 2 September, diplomatic and intelligence sources told Reuters that Israel has intensified strikes on Syrian airports to disrupt Iran's increasing use of them to deliver arms to allies in the region.
[412] On October 4, according to Middle East Monitor, two fighters of the opposition Sultan Murad Division were killed and 6 others were wounded in an SDF infiltration attempt on the outskirts of Al-Jatal village, Aleppo.
[412] At midnight on October 6, a suspected high ranking Islamic State militant by the name of Rakkan Wahid al-Shammri, Abu Hayil, was killed by American special forces during a raid in the village of Muluk Saray near Qamishli in the Al-Hasakah Governorate.
[440] On 4 November, a commander of the Liwa al-Quds militia was killed and several others were wounded after a mine was activated whilst searching for ISIS cells in the desert south of Deir ez-Zor.
[457][458][459] On 6 December, Al Jazeera reported that Turkey had set a deadline of 2 weeks for SDF forces to leave the areas of Manbij, Tell Rifat and Kobani and that a failure to do so would result in a new ground offensive as part of Operation Claw-Sword.
[477] On 25 December, 6 fighters of the National Front for Liberation were killed after Syrian army and Kurdish forces advanced on the village of Burj Haider in the Afrin countryside, capturing some positions from the militants.