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| 'Horror has come back to Aleppo': airstrikes continue in rebel-held east | 'Horror has come back to Aleppo': airstrikes continue in rebel-held east |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Jet fighters pounded rebel-held east Aleppo through Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, continuing the opening salvo of a long-awaited campaign that Bashar al-Assad and his Russian allies hope will crush the opposition in Syria’s former industrial capital. | |
| Activists, doctors and residents said intense airstrikes on several neighbourhoods in the besieged half of the city, which started on Tuesday, were continuing. Loyalist forces are gearing up for an assault on the city against the backdrop of a changing geopolitical landscape that on Tuesday saw Assad describe Donald Trump as a potential “natural ally” if the American president-elect fulfilled a campaign promise to fight terrorism. | |
| A text message from a nurse in east Aleppo said: “The bombing is continuing in all the areas.” | |
| Doctors said an ambulance driver had been killed in the airstrikes, and that many people were under the rubble after a bombardment that included “barrel bombs”, largely inaccurate cylinders packed with explosives dropped from helicopters and usually targeting civilian areas. Residents sent audio messages with sounds of intense bombardment and shelling. | |
| “Horror is back to Aleppo,” said Abdulkafi al-Hamdo, a teacher in the city, in a text message. | “Horror is back to Aleppo,” said Abdulkafi al-Hamdo, a teacher in the city, in a text message. |
| Russia has denied involvement in the air raids so far on the city, but said it had launched major missile strikes and bombing raids from its aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, which is stationed off the Syrian coast, on the provinces of Idlib and Homs on Tuesday. The aircraft carrier’s arrival in a highly publicised trip was heralded as signifying the start of the campaign to reclaim Aleppo. | Russia has denied involvement in the air raids so far on the city, but said it had launched major missile strikes and bombing raids from its aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, which is stationed off the Syrian coast, on the provinces of Idlib and Homs on Tuesday. The aircraft carrier’s arrival in a highly publicised trip was heralded as signifying the start of the campaign to reclaim Aleppo. |
| Aleppo was once Syria’s largest city and its cultural and commercial hub, but whole districts have been virtually abandoned over years of intense street fighting, and many parts of the east have been bombed into rubble. It is also being starved by a slowly tightening siege, broken only briefly in the summer. | Aleppo was once Syria’s largest city and its cultural and commercial hub, but whole districts have been virtually abandoned over years of intense street fighting, and many parts of the east have been bombed into rubble. It is also being starved by a slowly tightening siege, broken only briefly in the summer. |
| A semblance of normal life continues in west Aleppo. Regaining full control of the city would be a huge boost for forces loyal to Assad for its symbolic value and because it is the only key urban area still controlled by the opposition. | A semblance of normal life continues in west Aleppo. Regaining full control of the city would be a huge boost for forces loyal to Assad for its symbolic value and because it is the only key urban area still controlled by the opposition. |
| Assad’s forces, backed by Iranian and other Shia militias and Russian air power, have used a policy of bombing the opposition to the negotiating table, while starving the communities that support them into surrender. | Assad’s forces, backed by Iranian and other Shia militias and Russian air power, have used a policy of bombing the opposition to the negotiating table, while starving the communities that support them into surrender. |
| They appear to be deploying the same tactics in Aleppo, where the scale of suffering has provoked international outrage and pressure to end the attacks in recent weeks. | They appear to be deploying the same tactics in Aleppo, where the scale of suffering has provoked international outrage and pressure to end the attacks in recent weeks. |
| Iranian-backed militias have been amassing along the frontline for weeks, the likely spearhead of a ground assault that will involve gruelling urban combat. | Iranian-backed militias have been amassing along the frontline for weeks, the likely spearhead of a ground assault that will involve gruelling urban combat. |
| The situation in Aleppo, deadlock that has lasted years, has long been seen as a bellwether for the broader civil war in Syria, and the current onslaught is within the context of surging momentum for the Assad regime after Moscow’s intervention in the war last year. | |
| The opposition also fears that a Trump administration will abandon America’s covert but limited support for the rebellion, allowing the Kremlin a free hand to crush it. Trump said during the election campaign that he intended to focus on destroying Islamic State. | The opposition also fears that a Trump administration will abandon America’s covert but limited support for the rebellion, allowing the Kremlin a free hand to crush it. Trump said during the election campaign that he intended to focus on destroying Islamic State. |
| In his first reaction to Trump’s election victory, Assad struck a cautious note, saying the president-elect would be a natural ally if he sought to combat terrorists, an epithet that the Syrian president uses to describe all of the opposition. | In his first reaction to Trump’s election victory, Assad struck a cautious note, saying the president-elect would be a natural ally if he sought to combat terrorists, an epithet that the Syrian president uses to describe all of the opposition. |
| “We cannot tell anything about what he’s going to do, but if … he is going to fight the terrorists, of course we are going to be ally, natural ally in that regard with the Russian, with the Iranian, with many other countries,” he told Portugal’s RTP state television. | “We cannot tell anything about what he’s going to do, but if … he is going to fight the terrorists, of course we are going to be ally, natural ally in that regard with the Russian, with the Iranian, with many other countries,” he told Portugal’s RTP state television. |
| “I would say this is promising, but can he deliver?” said Assad, who was speaking in English. | “I would say this is promising, but can he deliver?” said Assad, who was speaking in English. |