2016 Abu Kamal offensive
2016 military operation of the Syrian civil war
The 2016 Abu Kamal offensive, also known as Operation Day of Wrath, was launched on the town of Abu Kamal on the Syrian–Iraqi border led by the US-backed New Syrian Army (NSA).
The offensive
On 28 June 2016, the New Syrian Army rebels launched the offensive from at-Tanf and occupied the village of al-Sukkariya north of Abu Kamal, the nearby Hamdan Military Airfield, and the Ayshat al-Khayri Hospital in northern Abu Kamal, all of which were unguarded by ISIL. They also established several positions in the desert between the Tanf border crossing and Abu Kamal. Some NSA troops were airlifted to the area by three Coalition helicopters while a sizable convoy of US provided vehicles made its way from the at-Tanf garrison toward Abu Kamal. The NSA advance was aided by FSA covert supporters inside the city. At the same time as the operation started, it was reported that Iraqi Federal Police forces were preparing to simultaneously attack the town of al-Qa'im, on the Iraqi side of the border. However, Iraqi Sunni tribesmen were the ones in fact involved in the operation, and acted ”precipitously and insufficiently in their role”, alerting ISIL of the offensive. ISIL then proceeded to cut power and communications in Abu Kamal, followed by digging trenches around the city.
On the next day, US air support was withdrawn to take part in the Third Battle of Fallujah. ISIL recaptured the airbase, pushed the rebels back from the outskirts of Abu Kamal, and attacked the supply lines of the NSA through the empty desert. ISIL fighters encircled the rebels in a surprise ambush.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q25036172. Authority coordinates are 34.446, 40.921. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2016.
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This entry incorporates text from “2016 Abu Kamal offensive” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.