In Aleppo, rebels brace for full force of Syria's Assad regime

With Syrian Army forces withdrawing from locations across the country and heading toward Aleppo, rebels there are preparing for a fierce battle for the strategic city that few expect them to win.

|
Turkpix/AP
In this Tuesday, July 24, photo, Free Syrian Army soldiers are seen at the border town of Azaz, some 20 miles north of Aleppo, Syria.

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Thousands of residents are leaving the northern Syrian city of Aleppo as fears of a major battle there grow. Until this week, the commercial capital remained largely immune to the violence engulfing the rest of the country, but is now facing its sixth day of fighting in several neighborhoods. Rebel fighters are preparing for a regime offensive, stockpiling medical supplies and weapons as Syrian Army forces focus their efforts on what has been considered a stronghold of support for President Bashar al-Assad.

Mr. Assad’s forces have stepped up their use of firepower, with reports of helicopters and fighter jets attacking opposition targets on the ground in the city of 3 million, according to The Associated Press.  This follows reports that the government dispatched reinforcement troops, as well as tanks, toward Aleppo yesterday from Idlib Province, near the Turkish border.

"Regime forces have been randomly shelling neighborhoods and the civilians are terrified," local activist Mohammed Saeed told AP.

In the past week, Syria's civil war has roiled the country's two biggest cities, Aleppo and Damascus. Damascus saw increased fighting today as well, with explosions reported in several neighborhoods, according to opposition groups.

As civilians flee, foreign fighters are reportedly entering the region to lend their support to the rebels' fight, according to CNN. Correspondent Ivan Watson and his crew met a Libyan fighter dressed in full camouflage and carrying a Kalashnikov rifle who said others would be joining him. Mr. Watson said that earlier this week the crew met at least one fighter from Turkey, as well as others they believed came from North Africa. The support may be helpful as fighting rages on in Syria for the 17th month, but some rebels fear an Islamist political agenda could usurp their fight.

“The foreign fighters, some of them are clearly drawn because they see this as … a jihad. So this is a magnet for jihadists who see this as a fight for Sunni Muslims,” Watson reported on CNN International’s “Amanpour” [last] night. “And that’s definitely cause for concern among some Syrian revolutionaries I know … who do not want an Islamist political agenda to be mixed in with their revolution.”A majority of Syrians are Sunnis, and Sunnis make up a bulk of the opposition to Syria’s regime, which is dominated by minority Alawites, followers of an offshoot of Shiite Islam. 

Rebel fighters are believed to hold about half of the city under their control, French reporter Adrien Jaulmes, who was traveling with rebels in Aleppo yesterday, told the BBC. Activists say the rebels are not expected to be able to hold Aleppo if faced with a full government assault, as has been the case in Damascus.

On the international stage, there is new talk of political transition in Syria after Arab countries announced plans yesterday to go to the United Nations General Assembly to seek approval of a resolution calling for a political transition and democratic government in Syria. This follows months of failed attempts by the UN Security Council to agree on how to halt the escalating conflict and worrying disclosures about the Assad regime's chemical and biological weapon stockpiles.

A resolution by the General Assembly would not be legally binding, but it is symbolic of the frustration many feel with the ongoing conflict in Syria, which has claimed between 18,000 and 19,000 lives since March 2011. The Arab countries' push for a resolution came after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed for a united response to the civil war during a speech in Bosnia yesterday.

"Quite simply, we must do better in seeing atrocities coming and telling it like it is. We cannot take refuge behind strong words and weak action," Mr. Ban said.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to In Aleppo, rebels brace for full force of Syria's Assad regime
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/terrorism-security/2012/0726/In-Aleppo-rebels-brace-for-full-force-of-Syria-s-Assad-regime
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe