Liberation of Aleppo

by JOHN CHERIAN

Aleppo city on December 3, with the Aleppo citadel and smoke rising after an air strike in the background PHOTO/Omar Sanadiki/Reuters

Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city and commercial capital, has finally been liberated after a struggle lasting over four and a half years. The last of the rebel soldiers were evacuated on December 22, 2016. The safe passage of civilians went ahead despite dire predictions from Western governments and the media. In a week-long operation, 34,000 civilians and fighters were escorted out of the city despite harsh weather conditions. Since then, the only gunfire heard in Aleppo has been from its residents holding impromptu celebrations. Most of the city was under government control anyway because of the unwavering support of the populace for the secular government of Syria.

Civilians displaced from their homes have slowly started returning to rebuild their lives amidst the rubble. They celebrated Christmas in the historical church of St. Elias, which was located on the front lines. The Christmas tree was lit up in eastern Aleppo after a gap of four and a half years. After the war started, the Christian population shrank to 50,000 from a high of 250,000. Many of Aleppo’s historical sites, including its famed Souk al Madina (market) and the Umayyad mosque, have been badly damaged. It is “game over” for the West and its regional proxies in Syria. With the ouster of the rebels from the last remaining pockets of eastern Aleppo, the Syrian government now has complete control of all the major cities in the country.

President Bashar al-Assad described the liberation of the city as a historic turning point in the war. He praised the people of Aleppo for their courage and their will to resist the terrorists, and the Syrian Arab Army for its courage and sacrifices. Among the more than 300,000 killed in the war so far, the army has taken the bulk of the casualties. President Assad thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for being Syria’s main partner in the battle, saying that the liberation of the city could pave the way for a political solution. Assad also thanked Iranian President Hassan Rouhani for his government’s support. Rouhani told Assad that it was Iran’s duty “to support those trying to force out takfiri [Sunni jehadi] forces out of their territory”. Western governments, on the other hand, are viewing the defeat of the jehadi forces as a huge setback to their plans to effect a regime change in Syria.

Disappointed West

Besides the capital, Damascus, the main cities of Homs and Hama are also under the firm control of the government. These cities, where the bulk of the population lives, are known as “Syria’s southern spine”. The rebels now have influence only in sparsely populated areas such as Idlib province, situated to the west of Aleppo, and on the outskirts of Damascus and Aleppo, where they are waging a losing battle. Raqqa, a small city which remains under the control of the Daesh (the so-called Islamic State), is under siege from all sides. President Assad has said that the next priority is to clear the rebels from the vicinity of Damascus and then focus on eliminating them from Idlib province and Palmyra. In Idlib, it is the al-Nusra Front, the Al Qaeda affiliate, which holds sway. The overstretched Syrian Army is not in a position to take on the rebels. Washington and its allies wanted to use the presence in Aleppo of the jehadists they had armed and trained as an important card to wrest diplomatic and military concessions from the Syrian government and its allies when peace talks resume in Geneva.

The Barack Obama administration tried its best to prevent the total liberation of Aleppo. According to declassified reports, the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was spending as much as $1 billion every year to help train and arm jehadi forces in Aleppo and other places. The U.S. tried to help groups such as al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham by selectively bombing Syrian military targets. The targeting of the Syrian Army in Aleppo in October by the U.S. Air Force even as a humanitarian truce was in place is an example.

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