Syria peace hopes fade with Russian-backed push for Aleppo

[uhnope]

Source: Financial Times

Officially, Syria’s peace talks may be “paused”, but restarting them looks near impossible as Syria’s Russian-backed government forces make rapid advances in the north of the country — leaving vast destruction in their wake.

For months Russia’s military intervention on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad appeared to have little impact. But the gradual destruction of opposition infrastructure and redoubled Russian military efforts are now yielding results. Russian-backed Assad forces are making massive gains near the Turkish border in the north, parts of which have been in opposition hands since 2012. Government forces have also cut strategic supply routes, dividing and isolating the countryside north of Aleppo. The ultimate goal is the city of Aleppo — Syria’s commercial capital and the rebels’ last major stronghold.

There are now at least 3,000 Russian service personnel operating in support of the government in Damascus, including special forces “spetsnaz” troops aiding Hizbollah and Syrian army units on the front lines in co-ordinating roles, according to one European diplomat, citing intelligence reports shared among the anti-Isis coalition.

Moscow also has at least 40 fast jets — a mixture of bombers and multipole fighters — based in Syria — a number that has been steadily increasing in recent weeks. In the last few days of January, as invitations to the Geneva peace talks were being finalised by the UN, Russia bombed more than 40 separate locations using dozens of aircraft in successive sorties and targeting moderate opposition positions, according to the US Institute for the Study of War.

Read more: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0fc18a84-cb22-11e5-a8ef-ea66e967dd44.html

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[nyabingi]

1. Sounds like great news to me

The US is not going to get the regime change they've been rooting for in Syria.

[zeemike]

3. Yep to me too.

The neo-con plan of overthrowing 7 countries is falling a little behind schedule.

[nyabingi]

12. Indeed

They didn't expect anyone to actually intervene in their plans militarily because no one has in the past, going back to the 90's NATO bombing in the Slavic region.

[PersonNumber503602]

16. Russian bombs are the best!

I wish Russia would bomb more places so there can finally be world peace.

[Odin2005]

8. So Assad beseiging towns into starvation is A-OK?

[nyabingi]

11. If you believe the lies of the ISIS-supporting Turks

then that would obviously be your take on the situation.

Why do you believe anything the Turks have to say when it's been proven that they are directly aiding ISIS and stealing oil from Syria?

[ErisDiscordia]

2. Peace before the conclusion of the war isn't going to hold

And the Russians are thorough, if they are anything. They don't want to be like the rest of Europe, flooded with refugees, terrorists and spies. They want military security in Syria, for Syrians, so that people can safely return home, knowing insurrection won't be breaking out the minute they get there.

Just holding peace negotiations without the means of enforcing the peace is silly.

[MariaThinks]

4. there was never hope for peace in syria. it's all a serade so the radicals can rebuild and attack

again

[independentpiney]

5. great news nt

[moondust]

6. Pootie-Tootie is apparently bombing civilians

in Aleppo and elsewhere, in violation of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254 which says: The resolution demands that all parties immediately cease any attacks against civilian targets. It may be a war crime.

What a great manly man-god he is to be bombing defenseless noncombatants! Just wowee!

I have a hunch Assad may have been willing to negotiate a ceasefire and political solution back when his forces were losing ground--before Pootie-Tootie intervened to save his buddy and secure his naval base.

This one's for YOU, Pootie-Tootie:

[killbotfactory]

10. He and Assad are probably just doing it to be evil

And I'm sure it has totally nothing to do with rebel militias operating from civilian areas.

[PersonNumber503602]

15. Do you find that acceptable defense when Israel does it in Gaza or wherever?

How about when similar claims are laid against the US in places like Iraq or Afghanistan?

[killbotfactory]

17. War will always be this ugly. War is essentially mass-murder.

The fact that our government has tried to sanitize the realities of war by showing off precision weapons and smart bombs, and pretending any resulting civilian casualties are a random accident that can be hand-waived away as a fluke, is pretty disgusting to me, honestly.

[Little Tich]

7. It would of course be better for Syria if Russia just stopped the bombing.

But then again, Putin is an enemy of peace, and perhaps even an enemy of Russia too.

[Odin2005]

9. Putin is scum.

[ozone_man]

13. Great news! Time to rout ISIS and other terrorists. n/t

[karynnj]

19. They aren't bombing ISIS nt

[PersonNumber503602]

14. I wonder how things will be when/if Assad regains control of much of the country

Will there still be a large insurgency fighting in the shadows even after the organized forces pushed underground? If Assad and Russia are too rough, then wouldn't they risk alienating more of the population and turn them insurgents? Then there's the whole thing with the Kurds. Don't the Kurds take control of some areas and are not giving it back to the regime?

[pampango]

18. No ISIS in Aleppo, of course. Russia helps Assad without attacking ISIS. No surprise there.

Helping Assad is good for maintaining a naval base in Syria. Have to have priorities.

[killbotfactory]

20. The Russians and Syrian government are attacking their most immediate threats.

Why anyone would expect otherwise?

[pampango]

21. Putin's statements when Russa entered the Syrian civil war?

At the time it seemed expedient to say their purpose was to defeat ISIS rather than to prop up Assad. Few believed that but it seemed to be the right thing to say at the time.

Defeating ISIS by itself does not guarantee continued Russian access to the naval base. Keeping Assad in power does.