Syria conflict: Aleppo medics appeal to Obama for help
Source: BBC
The last doctors in the rebel-held east of the Syrian city of Aleppo have urged US President Barack Obama to come to the aid of the 250,000 civilians there.
A letter signed by 15 physicians warns that if attacks on medical facilities continue at their present rate, there could be none left within a month.
It calls on Mr Obama to impose a no-fly zone over Aleppo to stop air strikes.
Russia has meanwhile said its forces will hold fire for three hours each day from Thursday to let aid into Aleppo.
All military action, air and artillery strikes would be halted between 10:00 (07:00 GMT) and 13:00 (10:00 GMT), a defence ministry official told a briefing in Moscow.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37033373
Russia is basically bombing the hell out of hospitals in Aleppo while the world looks the other way and Putin supporters smirk.
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The Carnegie Endowment for Peace reports:
WHO CONTROLS WHAT?
The key point is that no one is laying siege to “Aleppo,” as such, although many different armed groups are laying siege to bits and pieces of it. The city of Aleppo is divided, and so is the wider Aleppo governorate.
...
IS REBEL-HELD EASTERN ALEPPO UNDER SIEGE?
Yes.
In February of this year, government forces, backed by large numbers of Shia Islamist volunteers from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran, as well as by the Russian Air Force, managed to reach the two Shia Muslim towns of Nubul and Zahra, which are located on the edge of Kurdish-controlled territory in the northeast. This cut off rebel-held Aleppo from the northern countryside and its main supply line to Turkey, leaving only the road through Idlib to the west.
...
IS GOVERNMENT-HELD WESTERN ALEPPO UNDER SIEGE?
Yes it is.
This is the result of an Islamist-led rebel counter-offensive further south, which began on July 31. Sunni fighters from the Aleppo and Idlib countryside stormed western Aleppo, seizing key government strongholds such as the Artillery Academy and reaching the Ramouseh Roundabout on August 6. By doing so, they seemingly opened a corridor into the eastern half of the city and, simultaneously, placed Western Aleppo under siege. The government’s only supply line from central Syria had run along the main road in Ramouseh, where the rebels are now operating.
Even though on the map it might look as though the government forces have an alternative northern route at their disposal, through the Castello area just west of the Kurdish enclave, the situation on the ground remains confused. Rebel artillery continues to pound government positions, and there does not seem to be a stable ground link between army positions north and south of the Castello Road. What’s more, since the Castello road networks run from east to west, there is no good road that the government could use to divert traffic in a north-south direction, at least not on the scale needed to service Western Aleppo, which has a population many times larger than that of Eastern Aleppo.
http://carnegieendowment.org/syriaincrisis/64274
Our simplistic and one sided media coverage of the Syrian Civil War is part of the problem why a negotiated peace settlement has not been reached.
