Plenty of Fighting But Little Progress in Fight for Syria’s Aleppo

Arab League Postpones Talks

Clashes over Syria’s largest city of Aleppo moved into their third week today, with displaced civilians getting impatient about the fate of their homes as the front lines remain more or less unchanged.

Syrian warplanes continue to pound rebel targets in the city, as the regime keeps predicting imminent victories that never seem to come. The rebels, apparently irked that their own predictions of a quick victory haven’t come to pass, are now back to pressing the international community to impose a no-fly zone.

The calls for a no-fly zone aren’t new, but seem to be taking on a renewed emphasis as the fighting in Aleppo remains a stalemate. US officials have said they aren’t ruling out such a move, but Russia is almost certain to block such a resolution at the UN after NATO used a similar Libya plan turned into a full scale war of regime change.

The Arab League was expected to meet and discuss who to endorse as a replacement for former UN Syria Envoy Kofi Annan, but has postponed the meeting. There is no word on a new date.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.