A boy inspects his school, which activists say was damaged in an airstrike carried out by the Russian air force in the Syrian town of Injara, in Aleppo province, on Jan. 12, 2016. (Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)
Washington Post: Russian airstrikes are working in Syria — enough to put peace talks in doubt
BEIRUT — Russia’s military intervention in Syria is finally generating gains on the ground for Syrian government forces, tilting the battlefield in favor of President Bashar al-Assad to such an extent that the Obama administration’s quest for a negotiated settlement to the war suddenly looks a lot less likely to succeed.
The gains are small-scale, hard-won and in terms of territory overall don’t add up to much, in keeping with the incremental nature of war.
But after 3½ months of relentless airstrikes that have mostly targeted the Western-backed opposition to Assad’s rule, they have proved sufficient to push beyond doubt any likelihood that Assad will be removed from power by the nearly five-year-old revolt against his rule. The gains on the ground are also calling into question whether there can be meaningful negotiations to end a conflict Assad and his allies now seem convinced they can win.
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WNU Editor: Syrian Army advances have occurred .... but after 3 1/2 months of intensive bombing the expectation (at least in Russia) was that the rebel army would be reeling from such an onslaught. That clearly has not been the case, but it is also true that Syrian rebels are not in a position to drive the Assad family out of power.
1 comment:
I think the airstrikes hsve been a gamechanger but with all the jihadis support from saudi with friends it takes a lot of effort to beat them.
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