After many weeks of bloody fighting in and around the northern city of Aleppo, the Syrian military is making one of its first significant gains today, with reports that they’ve moved to within “firing range” of the Castello Road, which was the last al-Qaeda-held road leading to the rebel-held side of Aleppo.
Aleppo is split roughly in half between the Syrian military and a rebel coalition dominated by al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front. Al-Qaeda had been contesting villages in the vicinity recently, but the loss of the road could leave their part of the city effectively surrounded.
The road has been seen as hugely important to al-Qaeda’s presence in the area, with the military having repeatedly shelled it in an attempt to stop rebel convoys. This is the first time, however, they’ve gotten ground troops close enough to effectively stop any traffic on the road.
Aleppo was long seen as the key to the Syrian Civil War, but after many years of fighting the city is in such ruins that it’s unclear how valuable it would really be to whoever ultimately ends up taking it, assuming any faction ever fully controls it.
It is fascinating to see how our view if the eorld has been reshaped by neocon controlled media. Our cognitive restructuring has imperceptibly changed our logic and diminished our capacity to think histofrically. Nobody is immune. We thus think in the terms if “factions” when a legitimate army of a legitimate government attacks illegitimate, foreign funded paramilitaries. No, they are nit “factions”. In Aleppo population is desparate to free themselves from the clutches of foreign mercenaries. Al-Nusea commited heineous crimes against civilians, took their property, tortured and killed them, kidnapped their girls into sex slavery, kidnapped their boys for replenishing their fighting force. They killed people and tossed them into the sliw and shallow river to send the message to the free, government controlled part of town. From the manner of our reasoning one would think that the population does not care who is rulling them. That they are all just “factions” without a difference between them. What a cruel thing to say. Aleppo cannot wait for the terrorist scum to be defeated and their government take charge. Destroyed or not — thrir town is theirs, and will rise from the ashes once the terrorist are gone. One can feel dorry for those that fell for the dream of their Islamic caliphate cult. But everybody who falls gor a cult life needs to find out hard way that they are nothing but a pawn in somebody else’s chess game. But it is a war — not a movie. And it matters to the population very much who wins even if nothing but ruins remain. Europe was devastated in war but it mattered to iccupied nations to be rid of the occupier. The resistance to Al-Qaeda in Alrppo is strong — and it matters to them if they will be free again. Our media has started from day one the narrative of bad government and good terrorists. But it is only — and I repeat only — Syrian Army that has defended all population, Shia, Sunni and Christian against the terror of head-choppers and organ-eaters. As one Armenian wrote in Asia Times, West is dead to them. Syrian Army, consisting of majority Sunni young men has liberated many Christian villages and saved them from certain, cruel death. Ask the woman who owns the hotel where Agatha Christie wrote The Orient Express. It mattered to her when her part of town was freed up
from Al-Nusra. For the vast majotity of Syrians there is only one Syrian Army — and the pathetic attempts by US to create a “Free” Syrian Army and after its demise, now a “New” Syrian Army. Consisting of –Kurds! Who in Syria is being deceived. It’s purpose is to mess with OUR minds — to continue brlieving that there is a civil war afoot. We have sunk so low that we try to protect Al-Qaeda from Russian bombs, so we can continue pathetically yo call them “rebels”. But it works only because media narrative that is keeping up the illusion. To the rest of the world things have been clear ling time ago.