Rebel Offensive in Syria Challenges Government Siege of Aleppo

[robert99]

Little consensus within administration on how to stop fall of Aleppo to Assad

There is no consensus within the administration about what the United States can or should do to try to bring a halt to the killing and stop what appears to be the increasingly inevitable fall of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, to government forces.
...
As they assess Russian President Vladimir Putin’s goals in Syria, intelligence officials think he is less interested in an outright military victory than in being able to set the terms for a settlement that ensures Assad’s survival. But at least in the short term, they believe, the big winner may be the Front for the Conquest of Syria, the al-Qaeda affiliate formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra.

The jihadist group, which U.S. officials have said is planning “external operations” against the United States, has grown in strength and respect as a formidable, well-equipped fighting force against Assad.

 

[robert99]

UN Syria envoy: Jabhat al-Nusra holding Aleppo ‘hostage’
UN Syria Envoy Staffan de Mistura appealed directly to Jabhat al-Nusra, Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate, on Oct. 6 to leave the city of Aleppo “because 1,000 of you are deciding the destiny of the 275,000 civilians.”

De Mistura offered to physically accompany the terrorists out of the city in order to alleviate the suffering of Aleppo’s besieged citizens, while calling on the Syrian and Russian governments to end the siege of the city “for the sake of eliminating 1,000 al-Nusra fighters.”

Jabhat al-Nusra, which broke from al-Qaeda and rebranded itself as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (Conquest of Syria Front) in July, is designated as a terrorist organization by both the United States and the United Nations. Russia claimed that a reason for the collapse of the US-Russia agreement last month was the inability of the United States and its regional allies to separate American-backed Syrian opposition forces from Jabhat al-Nusra. The US-Russia agreement in Syria would have facilitated US and Russian military and intelligence coordination against Jabhat al-Nusra, in addition to allowing for humanitarian assistance and a resumption of UN-backed peace talks.

The Barack Obama administration has increasingly warned of the dangers posed by the expansion of Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. On Sept. 9, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, “Going after Nusra is not a concession to anybody.” He added, “It is profoundly in the interests of the United States to target al-Qaeda — to target al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, which is Nusra, an organization that is opposed to a peaceful transition, an organization that is an enemy of the legitimate opposition, an organization that is currently plotting attacks beyond Syria’s borders, including against the United States.”

 

[robert99]

Heaviest Russian raids 'in days' on Syria's Aleppo
At least eight civilians were killed on Tuesday in the heaviest Russian bombardment in days of rebel-held areas of Syria's second city Aleppo, a monitoring group said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight civilians were killed in the Bustan al-Qasr and Fardos districts in the east of the city.

"This is the heaviest Russian bombardment since the Syrian regime announced it would reduce the bombardment" on October 5, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

An AFP correspondent in the Bustan al-Qasr district saw one multi-storey residential building that had been destroyed, its facade sheared off in the air attack.

Members of the White Helmets rescue force pulled two lifeless toddlers from the building and wrapped them in white sheets.

 

[robert99]

Syria conflict: Heavy air strikes resume on Aleppo - BBC News
Russian planes have resumed air strikes on rebel-held districts in the city of Aleppo, in what activists say is the heaviest bombardment in days.

At least 25 people are reported to have died, including children.

The bombardment follows a temporary lull called by the Syrian government, partly to allow civilians to leave rebel areas in the east of the city.

It has come under intense aerial attack since a ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia collapsed last month.

 

[robert99]

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/New...s-resume-heavy-bombing-of-eastern-Aleppo.html
Russian jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after several days of relative calm, a rebel official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Air strikes mostly hit the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, Zakaria Malhifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim rebel group told Reuters.

“There is renewed bombardment and it is heavy,” he said.

The Observatory said the death toll from bombing in Bustan al-Qasr, Fardous and other neighborhoods rose to at least 25, with scores of wounded.

At least 50 civilians were killed by strikes on the rebel-held part of the city and nearby villages controlled by insurgents, residents and rescue workers said. In Bustan al Qasr, residents said, the strikes hit a medical center and a children’s playground.

The Syrian army, backed by Iranian-backed militias, also said it had consolidated its control of the al Jandoul traffic circle at a major road intersection on the northern outskirts of Aleppo.

 

[robert99]

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/17102016
Russia and Syria will halt fire in Aleppo for eight hours on Thursday to introduce a “humanitarian pause” in the city, Russia announced on Monday.

“We have taken a decision not to waste time and to introduce ‘humanitarian pauses,’ mainly for the free passage of civilians, evacuation of the sick and wounded, and withdrawal of fighters,” said Sergei Rudskoi, a senior Russian military officer, in a press briefing.

Between 8:00am and 4:00pm on Thursday, “the Russian air force and the Syrian government troops will halt air strikes and firing from any other types of weapons,” he said.

The announcement comes on the same day that the European Council issued a statement that was “appalled by the deteriorating situation in Syria,” and described the bombardment of eastern rebel-held Aleppo as “clearly disproportionate.”

The deliberate targeting of civilians “may amount to war crimes,” the council said.

 

[robert99]

Aleppo: 'We are burying people in parks and empty lots'
After more than four years of fighting in Aleppo, the cemeteries are full. Yet the recent intensification of the bombing campaign carried out by the regime and their Russian allies have left several hundreds more dead. Now, people living in Aleppo are forced to quickly bury their loved ones in parks and empty lots, according to our Observer, an emergency worker in the rebel-held areas.

 

[robert99]

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/New...and-Saudis-join-Aleppo-truce-discussions.html
A short truce seems to be faltering in Syria's Aleppo, after activists reported Syrian activists say warplanes struck two rebel-held villages shortly after Russian and Syrian airstrikes were halted.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Ibrahim Alhaj, a spokesman for the Civil Defense, say that Tuesday's airstrikes hit villages of Anadan and Daret Azzehe.

They had no immediate word on casualties.

Russia had said there would be an eight-hour “humanitarian pause” in the battered city, a move welcomed by the United Nations and the European Union which nevertheless said the ceasefire needed to be longer to allow the delivery of aid.

“Strikes in the Aleppo region by the Russian and Syrian air forces are stopping today starting at 10:00 am,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a televised briefing, adding that the measure was “necessary” to pave the way for the truce.

“This guarantees the security of civilians’ exit through six corridors and prepares the evacuation of the sick and injured from eastern Aleppo,” he said, adding that it would also guarantee safe passage for armed rebels to leave eastern Aleppo.

 

[robert99]

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/19102016
Syrian rebels in Aleppo have rejected their withdrawal from the city after Russia announced it, and the Syrian regime, would halt airstrikes to allow for moderate opposition fighters to leave the city.

“When we took up arms at the start of the revolution to defend our abandoned people we promised God that we would not lay them down until the downfall of the criminal regime,” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, sad Al-Farouk Abu Bakr, an Aleppo commander in the Ahrar al-Sham, Reuters reported.

“There are no terrorists in Aleppo,” he added. Moscow and Damascus have claimed that the majority of those fighting in rebel-held neighbourhoods of Aleppo have ties to al Qaeda.

 

[robert99]

EU drops sanctions threat against Russia over Syria
EU drops sanctions threat against Russia over Syria

EU leaders backed down on Friday from an explicit threat of sanctions against Russia over the bombing of Aleppo but warned that they would consider "all available options" if atrocities in Syria continue.
(Putin can do whatever he wants ...)

 

[robert99]

Did not expect this - Russia accuses Belgium of bombing civilian targets in Syria
Russia accuses Belgium of bombing civilian targets in Syria | News | DW.COM | 21.10.2016
Radar data proves Belgian F-16s attacked village near Aleppo, killing 6 - Russia
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that Belgian Ambassador Alex Van Meeuwen had appeared at the ministry in response to a summons after Moscow alleged that two Belgian F-16s had bombed a village.

Moscow had claimed on Thursday that two Belgian F-16 fighter jets flying from a base in Jordan bombed the village of Hassajek in the war-ravaged Aleppo province on Tuesday, killing six people, Russia's state-financed broadcaster "Russia Today" said.

Later that day, Belgian Defense Minister Steven Vandeput issued a statement saying the identification numbers of the two aircraft did not belong to the Belgian airforce. He also demanded a "formal retraction of this groundless and unsubstantiated allegation."

Russia's foreign ministry condemned the denial, saying Vandeput was "deliberately deceiving people in Belgium and elsewhere in the world, or his subordinates and the Americans are lying to the leadership of Belgium," RT quoted Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying. Belgium is part of the US-led coalition fighting "Islamic State" militants in Syria.

According to Konashenkov, the Belgian warplanes struck the village in Aleppo at 00:35 GMT on Tuesday, killing six civilians and wounding four others. The planes were tracked to Iraq and to Deir ez Zor in Syria, where a US KC-153 tanker refuelled them.

He said that his country had "effective air defense measures" that were capable of monitoring the sky above almost all of Syria. "Detailed information about the operation of the Belgian F-16's in the Syrian sky will be delivered to the Belgian side through diplomatic and military channels," he added.

The Russian general emphasized that this was "not the first time when the international coalition conducted airstrikes against civilian targets and later denied responsibility for them."
(smoke and mirrors?)