The Economist: The fall of Aleppo to Bashar al-Assad’s soldiers seems imminent
The West and the Sunni Muslim world are impotent in the face of Russian support for the dictator
WHEN rebel forces surged into the city of Aleppo, then Syria’s largest, in the summer of 2012, they hoped to establish an alternative seat of power that could rival the government’s in the capital, Damascus. But those hopes quickly faded as the operation to seize the city stalled. The rebels could only capture half of Aleppo, splitting the city in two. A lethal stalemate ensued.
The rebel’s hopes of ever breaking the deadlock are now dead. In July, forces loyal to the Syrian government cut the last remaining road into the east, imposing a siege that has slowly strangled life there. Russian and Syrian warplanes have relentlessly bombed hospitals, schools and marketplaces, crippling civilian infrastructure. With the east on its knees, the regime launched a devastating ground offensive on November 15th to drive rebel forces out of the city.
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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- December 9, 2016
Aleppo defeat unlikely to signal end of conflict -- Erika Solomon, Financial Times
‘We Are About to Die’: The End Comes for Aleppo -- Jared Malsin, Time
What you need to know about Aleppo -- Sheena McKenzie, CNN
Voices from Mosul: 'Hope is fading' -- Mohammed Tawfeeq and Salma Abdelaziz, CNN
Vietnam Continues Buildup in South China Sea -- American Interest
The Rise and Fall of the Somali State: Analysis -- Stratfor
Washington Panel Discusses Options in Preventing South Sudan Violence -- Carol Van Dam Falk & Ayen Bior, VOA
Indefensible: The Plan for a Pan-European Military Force Is a Mistake -- Herbert London, Observer
How Europe’s left lost the working class -- John Lloyd, Reuters
Mercosur Turns Its Back on a Diminished Venezuela -- Mac Margolis, Bloomberg
Joe Biden’s Ottawa visit a Seinfeldian trip about nothing -- John Ivison, National Post
Trump is playing a risky political game with China and Russia -- Edward Goldberg, The Hill
Trump could threaten U.S. superpower status -- Democratic senators Ben Cardin and Dianne Feinstein, USA Today
How Trump Could Finally Win the War on Terror -- Eli Lake, Bloomberg
How clean is solar power? -- The Economist
1 comment:
Because Aleppo is a massive rattenkreig.
Rattenkriegs are very bloody, very personal and take a long time compared plowing up a field with artillery and using all the asymmetric tools of war.
With Aleppo gone the pocket north of Homs will fall fast if the Russians and & Iranians so choose.
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