Aleppo Bears Brunt of Syria’s Fighting

Reuters reports on the crucial role that Aleppo, Syria’s onetime business capital, plays on the battlefield, and on what it calls the potentially “irreversible” fragmentation of the country.

“Aleppo is central to President Bashar al-Assad’s goal of rescuing a viable state from the ruins of Syria; hence the grim message from his forces to its residents, that one equals five,” it says. “‘We told them every shell (they fire) equals five barrel bombs,’ said Amar, a local policeman in the city, who argued that any civilians hit by the highly destructive improvised weapons deserved it for tolerating ‘terrorists.’”

It has been nearly two years since rebel fighters claimed half of Aleppo, which is fiercely divided into pro and anti-government areas. Today, the rebels are losing ground as government troops advance.

It’s a critical time in the city. As Reuters explains, “If Assad can retake Aleppo, he would be back in control of Syria’s three largest cities, a bulwark for the Mediterranean provinces of Latakia and Tartous which form the heartland of his minority Alawite sect.”

U.N. Chief Says Both Sides Block Aid

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has blamed both the Syrian government and rebel fighters for the blocking of humanitarian aid across the country, Al Jazeera reports.

As a result of what he called intensifying “indiscriminate and disproportionate violence and brutality,” more than 3.5 million people need aid in Syria, which Ban said was an increase of 1 million since the beginning of 2014.

The increase comes “despite a pledge from both sides to comply with a Security Council resolution demanding access for aid. More than 9.3 million people in Syria are in need of humanitarian aid, including 6.5 million internally displaced people. The assistance reaching people continues to fall far short of what is required to cover even their basic needs.

“Although the Syrian government established a working group on implementing the resolution, Ban said ‘there has been no progress in streamlining and speeding up procedures’ to get humanitarian convoys moving. He said the complex process remains time consuming and requires multiple approvals.”

In Syria, U.S. Learns Lessons of Inaction

In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, columnist Michael Gerson says that in Syria, the U.S. is now “learning lessons of inaction.”

“It has been possible to follow the progression of mass atrocities on hundreds of YouTube videos. But reaction in the United States and the West has seldom risen even to the level of numbness, which requires giving a damn in the first place,” he writes.

“There has been a facile assumption that the international community, in the pre-digital past, sometimes failed to act during mass atrocities because they lacked information. The war in Syria – the most transparent campaign of mass atrocities in history – proves that excuse a joke. In this case, we were watching all along.”

“There are limits to U.S. power, which must be factored into policy choices. But a predisposition to passivity has costs – to U.S. interests, to nervous friends and allies and to the victims of ongoing atrocities.”

Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team

Al Jazeera: Arab League Divided on Syria Representation

Bloomberg: Turkey Vows Action to Defend Tomb in Syria From al-Qaeda

Daily Star: Syrian Rebels Launch Northern Offensive After Heavy Losses

Al Monitor: Syria’s Victory in Yabrud May be Game Changer

AFP: Syria Opposition Calls for Sophisticated Arms