Opinion: The Destruction of Aleppo - Until When?

Syrian regime warplanes deliberately chose their targets; hospitals and civilian neighbourhoods in their vicinity were bombed violently and did not face resistance because residents are unable to defend themselves on the ground due to the international embargo. The regime has repeatedly carried out bombings in the last few days and has burdened rescue workers with searching for living people under the rubble of buildings that were bombed.

The victims are doctors, nurses, aid workers and residents of the neighbourhoods that were bombed. Most of them are women and children who were unable to flee to the Turkish border nearby. The bombings have been going on for several days and hundreds of civilians are dying in the city which was left at the mercy of the Assad regime, its militia and Russian forces, at a time when the international community stood by and watched, despite the fact that Syria, and the city of Aleppo in particular, is supposed to be covered by the ceasefire agreement that is one of the conditions for negotiations that the United Nations sponsored!

Is it possible to commit all of these massacres every day, without the parties sponsoring the Geneva negotiations taking any form of action except for making worthless statements calling for calm?

What is happening to Aleppo is terrifying. It is supposed to push the opposition to reject the false truce and the theatrical negotiations, just as the massive destruction is supposed to provoke nations that have opposed the killing of the Syrian people during the years of the unjust war.

It is inconceivable that the Gulf states keep quiet and compromise on what we see as an unprecedented and dangerous escalation! The Syrian people have no one after they were abandoned by the Turks, and the west which defines the plight of 24 million Syrians only with the existence of ISIS.

Since the Russians entered the war, the city of Aleppo in particular has been a target for destruction. It is considered the largest city in Syria and the city that is targetted the most by the Syrian regime and the Russians. Other cities are also being bombed continuously – Damascus, Ghouta, the countryside of Latakia and others. However, international activity has been limited to sending more military reinforcements to ISIS controlled areas.

The United States sent 150 soldiers to Al-Hasakah and the Turks are threatening to enter the border to hunt down Kurdish rebels. As for the Syrian people, they have been left at the mercy of the Assad regime’s forces which aim to destroy what remains of the neighborhoods of major cities. Aleppo has become desolate, relief supplies have been cut off from it, and roads have been blocked in the face of people who are trying to flee north to the Turkish border.

The United Nations did not honour its pledge that negotiations would take place simultaneously with the ceasefire, and that aid workers would be allowed to deliver aid. Rather, the massacres taking place during the days of the truce have exceeded the massacres in the days of war. This confirms that the negotiations are only trying to support the Syrian regime which has been sustained by its Iranian and Russian allies, and that hopes to achieve what it was unable to gain during the days of former armed confrontations.

Opinion: The Destruction of Aleppo - Until When?