The campaign was launched at the second half of 2012 and ended in the capture of the city of Raqqa as well as dozens of smaller towns and facilities.

[10] The next day, the Syrian Air Force bombed a petrol station in Tell Abyad, killing 30 civilians and wounding 70.

[11] In October, Syrian government forces launched a counteroffensive in Tell Abyad which resulted in a border clash between Syria and Turkey.

[12] On 12 October 2012, the al-Nusra Front and Harakat Fajr ash-Sham al-Islamiya attacked the Suluq barracks in Raqqa and claimed to have killed 32 Syrian soldiers.

[4] Christians, including those who supported the opposition, were kidnapped in Raqqa, al-Thawra, and Tel Abyad by al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.