The battle for eastern Aleppo will be over soon, but tens of thousands of Syrians there will find little peace.
The victory for the government of President Bashar al-Assad will open another violent, disorienting chapter in their lives, and a dangerous one for the opposition.
Soon, civilians and rebel fighters alike will either be punished or have to flee the city and join the many thousands of others displaced by President Assad and his Iranian and Russian allies — part of a plan to break the insurgency, and change Syria forever.
In a recent interview, Mr. Assad said that taking Aleppo, which has been the site of fighting for years, “won’t mean the end of the war in Syria, but it will be a huge step toward this end.” He’s right on both counts.
It would certainly be the most notable in a string of recent victories by his forces, along with those of Russia, Iran and other allied militia groups. The aftermaths of these victories show what’s in store for the civilians and rebel fighters in Aleppo: Surrender might save them from bombs, siege and starvation, but other calamities await. (Like what? After the horrors the citizens experienced?)
The history of what Mr. Assad’s government once called “truces” — but now more honestly promotes as military victories — is dark. (Most cities were cleared from terrorist rebels by such negotiated truces, where the militants and families are relocated to Edleb or northern regions of their choices)
In 2014, Mr. Assad’s forces detained hundreds of young men in the opposition who had agreed to surrender in the Old City of Homs, a center of the uprising that was eventually bombed and starved into submission. Many were promised amnesty, only to be conscripted into the very military that had killed their families. (By their own signed agreement in order to re-integrate their communities)
Residents were eventually allowed to leave to other opposition areas carrying a single bag each. (Fighters could take one personal weapon.) Displacing or detaining populations has become business as usual in areas retaken by the regime.
Two years later, Mr. Assad is even less compromising. Today he claims the chance of a truce in Aleppo is “practically nonexistent.” His confidence is buoyed by a series of rebel defeats in 2016, after which populations were forced from besieged areas to Idlib Province in northwestern Syria.
Today, as one Aleppo district after another falls, the rebels know resistance is futile; Mr. Assad knows that they know. His forces will make opposition areas unlivable, isolate fighters from civilians, and force both to surrender or leave.
These cleansings reflect a pattern, but the strategy behind them is still unclear. Maybe Mr. Assad believes that if these people remain, they will pose a permanent threat to nearby areas under his control.
Maybe he doesn’t want to spend government money on them. Or maybe his minority-led regime (that’s past history: Most of the army is constituted of Sunnis and Christians) just wants to push disloyal Sunnis out of its heartland in western Syria (dominated by Daesh and still supported by USA).
Whatever the logic, this ominous pattern — sometimes called the “green bus” strategy after the vehicles used to transport the displaced — paints a grim picture of what the people of Aleppo can expect. (Turned out Not to be grim, but a joyous end from slavery and famine)
Notes and comments on FB and twitter. Part 33
Posted by: adonis49 on: May 24, 2017
Notes and comments on FB and twitter. Part 33
“Agency status”: Obeying a small order without much inquiry because the order doesn’t feel harmful
If you fail to develop your perception that guides you to ask pertinent questions, all the knowledge will Not shield you from being suckered into obeying subtle orders that lead to dangerous deeds
The puppet master develop lists of short orders to be distributed to recruited agents for activating his grand plan
Being cognizant of the bad deeds we are about to commit, but lacking the necessary imagination of what despair and pains are being inflicted, is Never an excuse Not to be punished as war criminal
Two critical weeks for Lebanon: Either a purely proportional election law, or a Referendum on the popularity of the civil war Warlords
La vie est jeune. En vieillisant, la vie n’a plus rien a donner. On cherche des visages jeunes qui nous rappellent des camarades disparus
Avec le temps, on est tous vaincus, et on le sait sincérement. Mais avec dificulté on comprend qu’on n’ a rien appris qui vaille.
Tout ce qui reste en moi de vivant appartient aux martyres. Et je vis par politesse.
Je revois rarement les survivants: tous ce que nous avions a nous dire a été tué.
Elle souflait dans ses lettres non datées, une volonté plus grande que la mienne. Et communiqait une vaillance d’un coeur trempé mieux que le mien.
La vie est un genre litteraire. A toi de le choisir et la manipuler
“Who are the terrorists?” 308 actions were conducted by Zionists terror organizations (Palmach, Irgun and Stern) against civilian Palestinians before and after recognition of Israel
Le patriotism des Palestiniens s’exprime a travers des choses concretes: une maison, un champ, un jardin, un village
Le problem était que la Palestine était introuvable en consultant une carte geographique. La Palestine éatit un mouchoir de poche
Les cannoniéres Israeliennes se sont données a coeur joie, bombardant le camps Palestinien de Rashidiya. Elles auraient pu bombarder toute une journée, mais la politique limite le nombre des victims.
Late Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinsk wrote in 1974: Quand on traverse la Syrie, la Jourdanie ou le Liban, tout est beauté, ordre et harmonie. On est dans un paradis de vergers d’orangiers, de citronniers, d’oliviers et d’apricotiers. Ce sont les camps Palestiniens qui ressemblent a un immense patchwork d’argile, de tole rouillés, de vieux chiffons… et des nuées de mouches
L’homme qui se prend pour un sauveur est fatigant pour son entourage et dangereux quand il le peut
Traditionellement, la piéte Islamique n’a rien de chauvin ni de bigot. Ne croit pas en Dieu mais ne le dit pas publiquement.
Seuls les Wahhabites sont fanatiques d’une mission investie de détruire tous les lieux de cult de Saints et shrines
Il etait un mauvais joueur, même après avoir recu l’extréme-onction. I refusait de signer au bas de l’acte que les dieux lui tendaient.
Il avait l’air de tenir a la vie: il faisait des pieds et des mains. Il manquait d’élegance et de bonne grace face a la mort
Tous les militaires étrangers payaient les entraineuses Hongroises en Egypte, sauf les Francais. Meme après la defaite honteuse, la France conservait tout son prestige.
Elle avait des yeux oú il faisait si bon vivre que je n’ai jamais su oú aller depuis.
Une démarche comme si rien ne pouvait vous arriver, une beauté de la vie adolescente, les seins nus, et elle portrait sur la téte une corbeille de fruits
For 6 months now, Turkey claims it entered the Syrian village of Al Baab. Turkey is totally confused where this Baab is located
Aicha, the most beloved wife of prophet Muhammad, is the most prominent leader, scholar and imam that Islam experienced.
Aicha valiantly and stubbornly, secured the rights of women against all biases and falsehoods in the hadith. Muhammad, and two first caliphs Abu Bakr and Omar were buried under her bed.
The various factions among Shias and Sunnis have always been political in nature: positions according to power-to-be. The Sunnis sided with the Caliph, regardless of Umayyad, Abbasid, or Fatimid… The Shias were considered the heretic opposition factions.
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