Aleppo Ceasefire and the Myth of “Moderate Rebels”

Rasa - It was supposed to be an eight hour ceasefire, but for two weeks Russia has continued to hold its fire, extending the operation and calling on the rebels to take the opportunity to withdraw from Aleppo.

News ID: 424807

Date: 05 November 2016 - 13:09

RNA - This comes after Russian officials warned the rebel offensives around Aleppo were jeopardizing the ceasefire. The Al Nusra Front fighters - affiliates to Al-Qaeda - have rejected Russia’s call to withdraw from the city. Perhaps, this is because the Syrian military has been seen to have a major advantage recently, and is the reason why the rebels refuse to leave. Whatever the reason, if they remain or leave, the city will still fall into the hands of the Syrian military.

However, the Syrian Army and Russia have opened up corridors through which rebels can still leave the city. They will be allowed to take their weapons with them. The offer is similar to deals wherein rebel factions withdrew from several suburbs around Damascus, but of course on a much grander scale. That the rebels have already rejected it, suggests they still foolishly believe they are not defeated yet. On the contrary:

- The foreign-backed terrorist groups have already lost the war in Aleppo. As we speak, the Nusra Front-led rebels, still engaged in a major offensive against government forces in the western part of the city, have also found time to launch a whole separate offensive against other Salafist-jihadi groups with which they used to be allied.

- The terrorist groups have taken advantage of the ceasefire. For instance, Nusra and its remaining allies attacked and overran a number of positions belonging to the Fastaqim force, which like the other Nusra allies, is presented as “moderates” who are nominally aligned with the Free Syrian Army as well as the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra. The infighting is significant. It certainly raises questions about the unity among the terror coalition. They have turned against each other because they know their days are numbered and they have nowhere else to go; some are demanding exit from Aleppo, while Nusra militants have reportedly opened fire on groups of their comrades who had moved to use the corridors opened by the army for them to leave the flashpoint city.

- Despite Washington’s accusations, what is happening in Aleppo is a war against terror and not against the locals. The “moderates” don't give a damn about the safety of the civilian population. They are not there to defend the city either. To substantiate, on Thursday they once again used chemically armed weapons against the civilians. Syrian state news agency, SANA, cited a medical source in Aleppo's General Hospital saying that at least eight chemically wounded people with suffocation symptoms have been brought to the hospital.

- The main purpose of the humanitarian pauses - including the 10-hour ceasefire today - is to protect the civilian population and to debunk the myth that is “moderate rebels.” Washington has been continuing to develop measures against the Iranian-Russian strategy in Syria on the pretext of supporting “moderates.” The problem is, the US is yet to demonstrate the existence of the so-called “moderate rebels”. This was, and still is, a PR myth, never a real power in the battlefield.

- Washington is desperate to prolong the military operation by the Syrian Army and its allies to liberate eastern Aleppo from the Salafi-jihadist groups. Keeping the allied forces bogged down there is key to allowing the US-led coalition to complete the Mosul operation in Iraq, before continuing an east-west advance across the Syrian border to take Raqqa. They want to establish Raqqa as the de facto capital of "moderate" butchers under the cover of a US-imposed no-fly zone so they could become a counterweight to the authority of the government in Damascus. This way the US can then establish a permanent military presence in a country that has long been key to Washington’s objective of dominating the region.

The point in all this is that the moderate opposition doesn’t exist. The ones that the US supplies arms and equipment to are in fact Al-Qaeda units that include Qatari and Saudi mercenaries. It has always been a failed project. Saudi mercenaries and members of the Saudi Special Forces have all been actively participating in the Nusra terrorist group and similar entities. Thus, the so-called “Syrian rebels” are clearly terrorists supported by the United States, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other foreign players.

Silly how the regime changers still claim that Russia bombs the wrong terrorists in Aleppo. In that case, they should show leaders of these so-called “moderate rebels”, their history of rebellion, links to the ordinary citizens, and distinct areas of their control. Until that happens, their complaints about hitting wrong targets will remain lies, damn lies, and statistics.

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