The 2013 Latakia offensive, (called The Descendants of Aisha, Mother of the Believers by Salafist jihadists, and the Operation Liberation of the Coast by the Free Syrian Army and its supporters) was a campaign during the Syrian Civil War launched by rebel groups led by Salafi jihadists in the Latakia Governorate. The stated aim of the offensive was to conquer al-Haffah city, but government supporters assumed conquering Mount Nabi Younes was more likely the real aim. A calculated side effect may have been to spark more sectarian violence in Syria by carrying out a sectarian attack on an Alawite-majority area. The offensive began in early August 2013. During the campaign, rebel forces captured a dozen villages. However, in mid-August, the military counter-attacked and recaptured all of the t