However, increased rebel pressure in Homs Province led the government to abandon the offensive and redeploy its troops there, leaving its supply lines to Aleppo city vulnerable to attack.

On 26 August, rebels captured the strategic town of Khanasir, thus cutting the government's last land supply route to the contested city of Aleppo.

On 20 September, a coalition of at least ten rebel groups led by Ahrar ash-Sham and the Tawhid Brigade launched an offensive called wal-'Adiyat Dabha against government positions between the southern edge of the city and the defence factories outside of rebel-held Al-Safira.

[17] On 2 October, according to SOHR, the Syrian Army progressed in Khanasir, taking control of parts of the city while a large number of rebel positions were hit by the Air Force in the province; al-Atareb, Khan al-A'sal, Kafrnaha and Minnegh military airport.

[27] On 30 October, the Syrian Army entered al-Safira and took over several buildings in the southern part of the city and also advanced on the eastern side the next day.

[31] On 4 November, following the loss of Al-Safira, the Free Syrian Army commander for the province of Aleppo, Abdul Jabbar al-Oqaidi, resigned.

[35] On 8 November, before sunrise, the Syrian Army launched an attack against "Base 80", controlled by the rebels since February 2013, near the Aleppo airport.

According to Al-Jazeera, if the Army captured the base, it would cut the rebel supply routes between Aleppo city and the opposition-controlled town of al-Bab, about 30 kilometers from the Turkish border.

[35] On 12 November, the Syrian Army had penetrated the town of al-Naqqarin in the eastern outskirts of Aleppo city, advancing further north.

Opposition activists said the Army "launched a pincer movement from the north and the east and were closing in on major rebel held neighborhoods".

At the same time, government forces inside the city, backed by tanks, had taken two highrise buildings in the northern Ashrafieh and Bani Zeid districts, and advanced into the two neighbourhoods after close-quarter street fighting.

[48] On 13 November, Syrian Air Force helicopters dropped barrel bombs on rebel positions in Tell Hassel, south of Aleppo,[49] while the military advanced toward the town and fighting raged near it.

[50][51] On 14 November, an air strike killed the intelligence commander of the rebel Al-Tawhid Brigade and wounded the top leader of the unit, while they were meeting at a base in Aleppo.

[citation needed] The same day, a former Army colonel, who commanded another rebel brigade, was killed in fighting in the Maaret al-Artiq area, northwest of Aleppo city.

[58][59] According to local activists, opposition forces started to retreat from the village of al-Duwayrinah and the industrial area adjacent to Tell Hassel.

[63] By 24 November, it was reported that government forces started a push into the Sheikh Najjar industrial zone in the northeastern part of Aleppo.

[73] Soon after, the military launched operation Canopus Star,[74] with the aim to encircle Aleppo and cut rebel supply lines into the city, thus besieging rebel-held areas.

[75] Subsequently, the Army broke the siege of Aleppo's central prison on 22 May,[76][77][78] and on 3 July, government forces fully captured the Sheikh Najjar industrial district.