Syrian regime prepares for large-scale attack on Aleppo
Syrian regime troops massing for all-out assault on rebel-held city after week of bombardment
AN ASSAULT force of Syrian regime troops and thousands of their allies is massing for a large-scale attack on Aleppo in the hope of finally crushing rebel forces in the city.
US officials said Bashar al-Assad’s troops were being joined by fighters from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon for what could be one of the most decisive battles of the six-year war.
The forces gathered outside the city as an airstrike disabled the largest hospital in the rebel-held side of the city amid an intensified bombing campaign by Russian and regime forces.
The M10 hospital, which treated the wounded Syrian toddler Omran Daqneesh, whose bloodied face was seen in a photo shared across the world, and thousands of other civilians, was hit by barrel bombs yesterday and taken out of service.
As the violence continued, Russia and the West traded barbs and US efforts to revive a ceasefire continued to stall. Moscow warned Washington that if the US abandoned diplomatic channels and took military action it would lead to “terrible, tectonic consequences not only on the territory of [Syria] but also in the region on the whole”.
Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, meanwhile accused Russia of illegal “double tap” strikes designed to kill rescue workers by striking an area and then bombing it again minutes later once first responders arrived.
SYRIANS in the besieged eastern half of Aleppo were last night bracing for an all-out assault by ground troops from the Syrian regime and their Shia fighter allies which could end the opposition’s resistance in the city.
US officials said they were seeing signs that thousands of troops from president Bashar al-Assad’s allies – including Syrian regime soldiers, Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Hizbollah fighters, Iraqi militiamen and Afghan mercenaries – were massing for a final assault on Aleppo.
The warning came as Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, accused Russia of luring aid workers out into the open to be killed in illegal “double tap” strikes, in which an area is bombed and then struck again minutes later as first responders rescue the injured.
US-led diplomatic efforts to broker a truce have continued to stall, with Moscow warning yesterday that American strikes against Damascus would have “terrible, tectonic consequences”. The World Health Organisation said that 338 people had been killed in the past week, including 106 children.
It also emerged that more than 80 per cent of UN aid convoys to besieged areas were blocked or delayed in September, leaving civilians without badly needed supplies.
The assault force gathering outside Aleppo is reported to be made up of 10,000 troops whose goal is to finally recapture the rebel-held east of the city and bring an end to its four-years of defiance against Assad and his regime.
“There appears to be forces massing for some kind of assault on Aleppo,” said Mark Toner, a spokesman for the US State Department. When asked how long before the city fell to attackers, he replied: “It could be soon”.
If Aleppo did fall back into the Syrian regime’s control it would be potentially the single biggest turning point in six years of fighting. It would also be likely to cause massive civilian casualties and widespread destruction.
The Syrian regime and the Russian air force dramatically escalated air strikes on east Aleppo in preparation for the attack. Strikes yesterday hit the M10 hospital where thousands of wounded civilians, including Omran Daqneesh, the little boy with the haunted expression whose photograph was published on newspaper fronts around the world, have been treated.
Doctors and nurses inside M10 have spent months working to save lives with few supplies and intermittent wa- ter and electricity even as the facility itself has been repeatedly targeted.
Mohammed Abu Rajab, an X-ray technician at the hospital, sent a frantic audio message yesterday morning as another bomb struck. “Another direct targeting on M10 with cluster bombs!” he shouted. “The hospital is being destroyed now.”
The UN has warned Moscow and Damascus many times that the deliberate targeting of hospitals is a war crime. Wissam Zarqa, an English teacher, said that the increased strikes were a possible harbinger of a ground assault. “Targeting hospitals, bakeries and the infrastructure systematically in the last few days could be an indication there is something new looming on the horizon,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.
Syrian regime forces first encircled east Aleppo earlier this year and have fought back-and-forth battles with rebels and jihadist forces ever since.
Yasser Yousef, a spokesman for the Islamist rebel group Harakat Nour alDin al-Zenki in Aleppo, said the rebels were prepared for any new offensive.
“Our reconnaissance units have spotted Lebanese, Iraqi, Afghani and Iranian militias, mobilized around Aleppo,” he said. “We are aware of their plans and intentions. They said Aleppo will fall four or five years ago and we are still fighting.”
The UN has warned of the consequences of an attack. “It’s going to be a slow, grinding street-by-street fight over the course of months, if not years, whereby the ancient city will be almost completely destroyed,” said Staffan de Mistura, the special envoy for Syria.
The intensified bombing campaign has not been limited to Aleppo. Air strikes in the Kafr Batna suburb of Damascus reportedly killed at least seven children on Friday. The Siege Watch monitoring group said it appeared that Russian jets had dropped at least three vacuum bombs on the area.
More than 50 areas across Syria are under siege, and many are in desperate need of humanitarian aid.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, had threatened to cut off discussions with Moscow altogether if its air force continues its attacks on Aleppo.
Mr Kerry told a group of Syrian activists that he had made the case that the US should be prepared to use force against the Assad regime but “I lost that argument” to other aides of President Barack Obama who argued that the US should stay out.
‘We are aware of their plans. They said Aleppo will fall four or five years ago and we are still fighting’ ‘Another direct targeting on M10 with cluster bombs! The hospital is being destroyed now’