The city was the scene of the Aleppo Artillery School massacre in June 1979, and also witnessed running battles and clashes between government security forces and the Islamist opposition in Autumn 1979.

[1] Violence in the city exploded in November 1979, after security forces arrested Shaykh Zain al-Din Khairalla, a leading voice amongst Islamists and a regular leader of Friday prayers in the Great Mosque of Aleppo.

[2] In response both to the strikes[2] and the general increase in opposition activity, in mid March units of the 3rd Division of the Syrian Army were redeployed to Aleppo from Damascus and Lebanon.

The Division deployed their soldiers alongside hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles, which engaged in a brutal crackdown, often firing indiscriminately at residential properties.

Gen. Shafiq Fayadh was reported to have stood on a tank on 5 April, and announced his willingness to "kill a thousand people a day to rid the city of the Muslim Brother vermins."

The government offensive had resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths by mid April, whilst many more were detained at detention sites spread throughout the city.

[3] The day after the Eid al-Fitr and the massacre in al-Masharqah neighborhood, the Third Armored Division occupied Aleppo and 35 citizens were taken from their homes and shot dead.