On Christmas day in the Aleppo Governorate’s northern countryside, the Islamist rebels from Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group) and Jaysh Al-Mujahiddeen launched a massive assault on the National Defense Forces (NDF) frontline positions at the village of Bashkoy in order to build a large buffer-zone around their main supply route from Turkey to the provincial capital.
Initially, Jabhat Al-Nusra and Jaysh Al-Mujahiddeen were successful, capturing several points outside of the village and inside its eastern flank; however, their success did not last long as the Syrian Armed Forces eventually forestalled the Islamist advance and pushed back the encroaching enemy combatants attempting to infiltrate into Bashkoy’s residential area.