The Syrian government has pummeled
opposition-held neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo in a four-day air
assault, leveling apartment buildings, flooding hospitals with casualties and
killing nearly 200 people. The unusually intense airstrikes are believed to be
preparing an all-out ground offensive. Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, has been
divided in half since mid-2012. (AP, 18 December)
Syrian President Bashar Assad
could also be trying to strengthen his position on the ground five weeks prior
to the start of Geneva II conference on Syrian conflict.
The airstrikes have overwhelmed
Aleppo’s already strapped medical facilities, which are struggling to cope with
the influx of casualties and are running out of drugs and medical supplies,
Doctors Without Borders said.
The impact has been so
devastating, in part, because of the government’s choice of weapon: helicopters
that drop so-called barrel bombs containing hundreds of pounds of explosives
and fuel, causing massive damage. (AP, 18 December)
More than 120,000 people have been
killed, and nearly 9 million Syrians have been uprooted from their homes — some
40 percent of the country’s prewar population of 23 million. They include some
2.3 million who have fled to neighboring countries.
Photo credit: The rubble of houses
that were destroyed by government airstrikes in Aleppo, Syria. Wednesday, December
18, 2013 (AP/Aleppo Media Center AMC)
25 comments:
what is this relevant to Iran and Iranian affairs? Are you trying to gain sympathy for Syrian population? THere is enough of it in Western media. For sure what should I care. Arabs are kiling each other! THey can kill eachr or kill the Israelis. The lesser of them, the better for us.
Well, the authors should also find and publish information, that terrorists in Syria use schools, as a their barracks and command centers, and that some underage "children" serve those terrorist as a helpers, as well as that some of those "children" practice how to cut throats of the terrorists' enemies....
And it is true, that those "doctors" are helping to also treat those terrorists........
Many of the victims, if not the majority, are soldiers and supporters of the current system, because western "sources" always report that more regime supporters had been killed than the "freedom fighters" during particular battles.
A-F
The u.s. has given up on the arab spring, due to their suspicious alliegances
Just hope the Iranian people don't pay the bill for the Syrian reconstruction.
@ 6:45 PM,
“What is this relevant to Iran and Iranian affairs?” Iran is the main supporter of the Syrian regime. Iran’s Quds Force has a significant presence in Aleppo and its officers practically direct the planning and operations of the Syrian army units. In addition, the Lebanese Hezbollah and a number of Iraqi Shia militant groups under the direction of the Quds Force are fighting on the side of the Syrian military. And Iran is the big suppliers of arms to Syria. What does this have to do with Iran and Iranian affairs? Are you kidding?
“Many of the victims, if not the majority, are soldiers and supporters of the current system.” The Syrian military helicopters are dropping so-called barrel bombs on Aleppo’s neighborhoods controlled by the opposition, and the majority of victims are regime supporters? That would be amazing!
The Syrian military is destroying half of its largest city in order to move in ground forces to occupy the neighborhoods controlled by the opposition. Of course it doesn’t make any difference who are the victims, it is the tragedy of the conflict that thousands are being killed every month, and millions are displaced. Let’s hope a solution could be found at Geneva II in January.
The sooner the government crushes the terrorists the sooner the killing can end,and let us hope that the saudis and qataris are paid back in kind for what they`ve done to syria
American-backed, al nusra/al al qaeda terrorists are destroying Syria. They have expressed no interest in peace talks.
Spoken like a tea party trainee ...
Even the names and tone of it....
If Iran does not support its allies, nobody would trust Iran again.
If Syria falls to Wahabis, then Iran shall fall (as a country)... If Syria prevails, then Saudi Arabia disintegrates
Azari by fortune, Iranian by Grace of God
Dariush London (and feel free again not to publish this,,, as always)
After everything Iran has done in Syria, fighting Israel and standing up to the West will no longer buy her credit in the Arab world.
Why should Iranian troops be in Syria fighting to preserve the Assad regime? Did Syria send its military to the aid of Iran when it was got attacked in 1980 or distract Iraq in other ways than just closing down an oil pipeline?
opposition forces are responsible for this since they are hiding tin the city. They should give the city to the government and go to to desert so can fight like men
Why should Turkish, Qatari, Saudi and other foreign terrorists be in Syria to fight and slaughter people?
They are not "opposition" when most of them are foreign, al qaeda types. They are militants.
Author at 10:28 PM
I have written about victims of previous battles and murders of innocent civilians by terrorists as well as their suicide attacks in civilian populated areas (universities, schools), and the recent attacks in Allepo by the helicopters, which have taken terrorist by surprise, since they assumed that after previous losses of the helicopters in similiar operations will discourage their use..., are meant to dislodge terrorists from Aleppo's neighbourhoods.
To my best knowledge, majority of the Aleppo's part, under contol of the nongovernmental forces are in reality controlled by terrorist and foreigh mercenaries.......
The Syrian Army has decided to use those helicopters, as a tactical surprise and apparently to target terrorist areas with better precision and superior power in comparison to previous attacks by the jetfighters with smaller payloads.........
Use of underage children, even in the auxiliary tasks during battles, is a violation of international conventions......
In your second paragraph, I see your incorrect information, because your words should state that :
"The Syrian Army is....to move in ground forces to liberate the neighbourhoods (in Aleppo) controlled by terrorist and foreign mercenaries"......
A-F
well said AF as usual!-Let us hope Uskowi will offer the best 'option'!.He is opposing what ever the Syrian government does, closing HIS eyes on many glaring horrendous crimes by the RATS!.
BMA,
As you must be grappling with the same issue, there are no easy options for the situation. On one hand, you have a 40-year old dictatorship of Assad family. Like his father, Bashar wants to win the war by leveling his own cities and destroying his own country. On the other hand you have an opposition that includes terrorist groups. The fight has been going on for four years, and unfortunately can go on more. When sectarian/religeous conflicts start, it’s hard to stop them. Remember Northern Ireland?
Having said that, let’s hope cooler heads prevail in the upcoming Geneva II and the beginning of a peaceful solution to the conflict could be negotiated.
Nader-!
you seriously needs to burn extra fuel and do some real homework on the subject of Syria and the general Iran foreign policy.it is very sad on your part to dance on the whims of the western media and refuse to accept that YOU are indeed a deserving source of facts on the politics of the middle east!.Who ever supported this tragedy among the Leaders in TEL Aviv and the western capitals must have been very blind indeed.-and this is how
FACT ONE-
ruling for forty years has ever been a crime!.the Assad dynasty is not as old as the Al saud of Hijaz[Saudi Arabia] yet this ruling family is very friendly to west.And it is evident therefore that the west look for some other things when wishing to remove a dictatorial regime.Otherwise how can they hate the Assad s yet feel at home with the dictatorial Al saud?
FACT TWO-
when the riots started snipers were positioned among the masses and began to shoot Government troops and anti riot servicemen -killing around six thousand officers .It is after this scenario that Assad was forced to admit that there is indeed an armed uprising in the country.WHAT was he to do?Democratic rioters killing troops,killing government officials ,killing senior ministers in press conferences,-there is no way a civilian could have afforded this .
Today,it is open to every one that those humble rioters are no where, we have trained fighters,hard core Chechen guerrillas, battle hardened Taliban jihadists wishing to start a caliphate in Syria, and we all know what will happen to the Shiite population if these people get to win.Syrians love their Leader!,Assad loves His people ! - what Hes is doing is NOT kil;ling them , or leveling cites for the sake but IS trying to free them from the grip of foreign jihadists who have held the country hostage supported by a BLIND Beacon of democracy.
FACT THREE
It has now downed to all in the west that indeed Assad guarantees the safety of Israel.You are lamenting 'forty years of dictatorship' but give the jihadists a victory and wait for forty days!-.But as usual the policy makers in Tel Aviv are blind -not seeing that there is a guarantee for the safety of Israel and peace in the region under Assad .
so then USKOWI the use of the helicopters is to limit civilian casualties not just meant to level cities!,
B.M.A.,
Your comments above generally indicate your ignorance of facts, although you want to portray them as facts, but calling then FACTS, in capital letters, doesn't make them so!
1. Ruling for forty years becomes a problem when the regime is a dictatorship. The Assads, the father and sons, have for more than four decades ruled through dictatorship. That’s a problem, a big problem for anyone who favor democratic rule. And don't pull Saudi comparison on this blogger. I have opposed the House of Saud for decades precisely for their anti-democratic, dictatorial and backward nature.
2. The uprising did not start with riots. Four years ago, like other Arab capitals, massive peaceful street demonstrations started in Syria as well, in what was collectively to be known as Arab Spring. Fortunately there are many videos and photos of the Syrian days of Arab Spring, so people like you could not deny it. Assad’s answer to peaceful demonstrations, unlike Tunisia and Egypt, was attacking the protesters. His father’s advisors must have told him that the older Assad leveled a whole town (in literal sense) to quell popular uprising there, and he decided to do the same. Violence begets violence. Bashar’s ruthless handling of the early demonstration left the space open for ruthless terrorists to enter the scene as member of the “opposition.” Hence my earlier point: Assad’s dictatorship as well as Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists is both responsible for what’s going on in Syria today.
3. Forty years of dictatorship is not matter of “lamenting” but a fact! I am as opposed to Jihadists as anyone. For those of us who have experienced the Shia version of fundamentalism in Iran, we don’t take the threat of Salafists and Jihadists lightly.
The tragedy of Syria can be overcome through negotiated settlement of the civil war. Sooner the better. Otherwise, this conflict could become a Middle Eastern version of Northern Ireland.
B.M.A., you have been a commentator on this blog for many years. Using insults like dancing to the whim of the Western media, or implying that all the supporters of democratic change in Syria, which I proudly count myself as one, are like “Leaders of Tel Aviv,” is unbecoming and a manifestation that your analyses are not based on facts, but name calling and accusations.
B.M.A. at 2:29PM
You have stated excellent arguments, that have been proving, that the author has biases and is dwelling on his fallacious assumptions, which may not just be induced by his refuse to accept that he is wrong.........
Western administrations with the Zionists, wish that kind of "intelectual", supports which justify their bullying around the world.
A-F
Dariush London at 9:02AM
The main author pretend to pose as a defender of democracy in Syria, because the "unelected" Assads are in pover over 40 years and the Sunni majority has been opressed and underrepresented.
However, he (Uskowi) is somehow silent about facts that the Saudi and Bahraini families
do whatever they want, and that the majority (70%) of Bahraini population, who are Shiites, have no real representation and are brutally oppressed under sillence and sponsorship of the US.
A-F
Define my “fallacious” assumptions regarding Syrian civil war., please. You run out of argument when an ardent opponent of more than four decades of brutal dictatorship in Syria also opposes the Jihadists/Salafists who mask their true intentions under the banner of “opposition.” You can only argue against Salafists, that’s much easier for you, isn’t it?
You talk about Western governments and Israeli involvement in Syria. Do you know, have you ever cared to see the reality, that the foreign government most involved in the Syrian conflict, from arming the Syrian army, to organizing and arming Iraqi militias, Shia equivalents of Salafists/Jihadists, to fight in Syria, to directing the Hezbollah to be part of a sectarian war, to advising and leading the operations of Syrian army/Hezbollah/Shia militia units in the civil war is the Islamic Republic of Iran? Do you think otherwise? If not, why are you not as harsh on Iran for interfering in a civil war far from its homeland, as you are on others? Time to wake up to realities on the ground!
Uskowi, maybe for the same reason that those supporting the al qaeda terrorists in Syria are not as harsh on them for interfering in a civil war far from their homelands?
Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups are terrorists, coming to Syria to spread terror and their version of Islam. Who are the Quds Force, why are they in Syria? Aren't they involved in foreign military intervention and use of force in a foreign country? And I always thought the Islamic Republic was against use of force and military interventions in other countries, like their opposition to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Is this then the height of hypocrisy, or is it something else that you will be explaining to us?
So what if Iran is involved militarily? It is responding to an intervention started by those backing the al qaeda terrorists in Syria. That's the problem for hypocrites like the American regime and its allies. Once they start practising double standards, they set a precedent for others to get involved and do the same.
Post a Comment