Assad Besieged As Aleppo Falls To Rebels
The volcano has erupted after a gap of 13 long years! The Syrian rebels, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant outfit, seized control of Aleppo in the first week of December 2024. Aleppo, the capital of the Aleppo Governorate (the most populous governorate of Syria), is the worst affected city by the West Asian country’s decades-long civil war. As the Administration of President Bashar al-Assad has lost control of the north-western city, armed militants are roaming on streets. Although the Syrian Army has acknowledged that the situation has worsened in Aleppo, it has claimed that the Government Forces would soon regain the control. Russia has already targeted rebel bases in the region, killing more than 300 people (including 40 innocent civilians). As per a UN report, nearly 50,000 have been displaced since November 30 (2024).
On December 2, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed serious concern over the situation, urging the warring parties to lay down their arms. According to the UN report, the most affected by the conflict is the northwestern part of Syria. Interestingly, the rebels took just three days to take full control of Aleppo before marching towards the major city of Hama for another assault! Meanwhile, the Russian Air Force and the Iranian Forces are helping President al-Assad’s Armed Forces to counter the HTS and its affiliate Jaish al-Izza (the Army of Pride).
The UN has further mentioned in its report that a key water station serving western Aleppo is inoperable and damage has also been reported to health infrastructure, including key hospitals in Aleppo and Idlib, leaving hundreds of patients without care. The Syrian Military Command stated that rebels had attacked in large numbers and from multiple directions, prompting “our Armed Forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defence lines in order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers“.
Earlier, the US, Russia, Turkey and some other countries identified the HTS, formerly known as Nusra Front, as a terrorist group. While the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed on December 2 that the Russian Air Force targeted the HTS bases in Aleppo, the US State Department stressed that it was closely monitoring the situation. The outgoing Joe Biden Administration discussed the issue with Turkey, as Ankara reportedly backs the activities of some of the Syrian rebel groups!
The Government Forces and rebel groups have engaged in an armed conflict in Syria since 2011. Major foreign powers, like Russia and the US, are also playing an important role in the Syrian civil war. While hundreds of thousands of people have perished so far, millions have become homeless. There is no electricity or food in many cities where schools and hospitals have become useless. The skyrocketing prices of essential commodities have made lives miserable for almost every section of the society across Syria. Russia and Iran helped the al-Assad Regime to bring back normalcy to some extent in the past. The al-Assad Government also took control of Aleppo in 2016.
However, the scenario changed on November 30, 2024. Television footage filmed inside the city has shown rebels gathering at Saadallah Al-Jabiri Square, the central town square at the heart of Aleppo. Billboards with al-Assad’s image can be seen in the background. Another video has shown a group of people posing in front of a toppled statue of the President’s late brother, Bassel al-Assad. The rebels were also seen roaming around the city in trucks. Ali Jumaa, a rebel fighter, has stated: “I am a son of Aleppo, and was displaced from it eight years ago, in 2016. Thank God, we just returned. It is an indescribable feeling.“
The Syrian Army has claimed that the rebels are carrying out attacks in adjacent areas after taking control of the Aleppo airport. The rebels have also captured Maarat al-Numan, an important city in Idlib Province, prompting the Syrian Army to reposition its armed personnel and to make some changes in its battle plan.
On December 2, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that he was “alarmed” by the escalating conflict in northwestern Syria. He urged all parties to immediately cease hostilities, stressing that they should not forget their obligation under international law, including international humanitarian law. For his part, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric stated: “The UN remains committed to staying and delivering, and is working to carry out assessments and expand humanitarian response efforts as soon as possible. Syria’s people deserve a political horizon that will deliver a peaceful future, not more bloodshed.” “All parties must protect civilians and civilian objects, including by allowing safe passage to civilians fleeing hostilities,” he added.
The Role Of CIA In Endless Syrian War
(Executive Intelligence Review Weekly Newsletter, Volume 38, No. 49, December 5, 2024) Since the HTS launched its surprise offensive against the Syrian Government on November 27, 2024, occupying Aleppo and advancing toward Damascus, intense diplomatic efforts have been made, together with an apparently effective military counter-offensive by the Syrian Army of President al-Assad, with crucial air support from Russia. Although the weakening of the al-Assad Government is welcomed by many in Washington DC and London, the Joe Biden Administration has denied any implication in the attack by this successor organisation of al-Qaeda.
Colonel (Retired) Richard H Black, one of the foremost American experts on Syria, is not convinced by such denials, as he explained in his report to the International Peace Coalition (IPC) on November 29, 2024. In his view, the attack, which broke the ceasefire agreed to in 2020 (brokered partially by Ankara) was done “with probable assistance from Turkey, and with guidance, I suspect, from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)”. The presence of Kurds in the area is a decisive factor for the intervention of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army.
Colonel Black, the former head of the Army’s Criminal Law Division at the Pentagon, suggested to the IPC that the current attack by al-Qaeda and its allies aimed to “take advantage of the fact that Syria has been under attack by Israel”, including increased aerial attacks. Moreover, the CIA was involved in organising Syrian terrorists “going back to 2011”. So, it is unlikely, he stressed, “that the rebels in Idlib Province could burst loose without the explicit guidance of the CIA. We found out from Wikileaks many years ago that the CIA set up a series of major warehouse centres along the Turkish border with Syria for the purpose of funnelling weapons to the terrorists who were attacking the legitimate Syrian Government. We (the US) didn’t necessarily orchestrate all of the tactics and strategy and ideology used by the terrorists, but we knew what they were doing”.
As for Turkey, it “is always on the look-out for opportunities to seize territory from Syria, and they certainly are complicit in the current attacks”, added the Colonel. In addition, Colonel Black noted that it “provides an opportunity for Israel, which long has had its eyes on Syrian property. So, we will see what develops, but there is no doubt that within the Deep State, there are elements of the CIA, of the Pentagon, that are looking for an expansion of the war and the creation of a new front in Syria to again undermine any efforts that the Trump Administration might have to bring calm and peace to the world”.
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