page_title: Idlib
section_title: Syrian Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Idlib / History / Syrian Civil War
caption_attribution_description: English: Mural of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region at the Mihrab roundabout in the center of the city of Idlib, northwestern Syria.
context_page_description: Idlib is a city in northwestern Syria, 59 kilometers southwest of Aleppo, which is the capital of the Idlib Governorate. It has an elevation of nearly 500 meters above sea level. The city was taken over by Syrian rebel militias at the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, and by 2017 was the seat of the Syrian Salvation Government.
  In the 2004 census by the Central Bureau of Statistics, Idlib had a population of 98,791 and in 2010 the population was around 165,000. Before the civil war, the inhabitants had mostly been Sunni Muslims, although there was a significant Christian minority. Idlib is divided into six main districts: Ashrafiyeh, Hittin, Hejaz, Downtown, Hurriya, and al-Qusur.
  A major agricultural center of Syria, the Idlib area is also historically significant, containing many "dead cities" and tells.
context_section_description: During the uprising since 2011, Idlib was the focus of protests and fighting in the early phase of the Syrian war. As the uprising descended into armed conflict, Idlib became the focus of a rebel campaign, which temporarily captured the city and the governorate, prior to a government offensive in April 2012. After this, government forces retook the city and the rebel-controlled province after a month of fighting, prior to the attempted enforcement of the ceasefire proposed by Kofi Annan. After the 2015 Idlib offensive in March, the rebel alliance Army of Conquest, led by the al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham, succeeded in the Second Battle of Idlib and captured the city, as well as besieging the Shi'a-majority towns of Al-Fu'ah and Kafriya to the north of Idlib city. In April 2015, the interim seat of the Syrian opposition's Syrian Interim Government was proposed to be Idlib, in Idlib Governorate. On 23 July 2017, Tahrir al-Sham, successor of the al-Nusra Front, expelled the remaining forces of Ahrar al-Sham from Idlib, capturing the entire city.
caption: Ba'athist mural at the Mihrab roundabout in Idlib, defaced after the city's capture by rebel forces in 2015.
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