Liberation Of Aleppo

[Gromit]

Why are we not celebating the end to the war in Aleppo?
The civilian suffering is over after 4 years, and IS and their mates are defeated.

[mikey4444]

Gromit....I think that there is ample evidence that Assad and Putin deliberately targeted civilians in Aleppo, by bombing hospitals and schools.

[Gromit]

Unfortunately, enemy fighters take refuge in Schools and Hospitals, and the Government target them. A consequence of Guerrilla warfare.

[vulcan42]

Gromit, " The civilian suffering is over after 4 years"
There are an estimated 50,000 people still trapped and the evacuation of civilians stopped this morning, how is that cause for celebrations?

[Khandro]

Because it was an achievement helped by the Russians, who must be despised and denigrated at every opportunity, things might soon change for the better when The Donald takes over the reins.

[Gromit]

Vulcan,

The evacuations have been suspended for safety reasons, they will resume asap. The evacuations are a sign that the Isamist fighters are defeated which is why Aleppo was being attcked in the first place. This is over bar the shouting.

[vulcan42]

Gromit, I admire your optimism.

[mikey4444]

DB...what proportion of the French population would that be, against the others that cheered the Allies on when the chucked the Germans out the country ?

[mikey4444]

DB...but they weren't alone though, were they DB !

Assad has to ask Putin to help him continue with his war crimes...deliberately targeting civilians and using chemical weapons.

Perhaps you had forgotten about the chemical weapons DB ?

[mushroom25]

//The evacuations are a sign that the Islamist fighters are defeated//

it's a sign that the rebels have largely stopped fighting and have melted away into the general population. the Syrian authorities have no way of knowing how many "sleeper" fighters there are on those green buses - a beard and a shalwar kameez is not just worn by islamists but practically every male in the area - or that they won't start throwing things again when they reach their alleged safe havens.

[mikey4444]

DB...spare me the lectures ! When Assad used chemical weapons, he committed a war crime, and Putin enthusiastically assisted him.

Why are you defending these two butchers ?

[youngmafbog]

On the other hand if Putin had not got involved Aleppo would still be at war.

Putin is no angel, but equally he is not the devil yu insist on painting him.

Of course, maybe he should pop round and sit in your other armchair and fix the world's wrongs that you seem to think you are so good at. Maybe you could also help out the US and the UN?

[Khandro]

mikey; //When Assad used chemical weapons, he committed a war crime,//
Yes, and so did his enemies - it's war, and it's hell.

[ichkeria]

The reason Aleppo was being bombarded by Assad was because it was mainly held by the other side in the civil war. The reason the Russians were eventually helping was because they want to prop up Assad in a rump Syrian state. Assad wants to get back the whole country and although he now controls the main urban areas he only has about 40% of the territory. So for him the war is not over but I suspect that effectively it is, unless his allies agree to help him.
There is the little matter of his likely being wanted by the international community for war crimes of the sort that would make IS blush

[ichkeria]

Given some of the bizarre views expressed here I thought it could do with pointing out.
The issue with Assad from the start has always been the methods he has used to conduct warfare, starting initially by massacring peaceful protesters and then systematically bombing civilians.
That is what has placed him beyond the pale for the civilised world, and that alone. Had his country initially been assaulted by an extreme Islamic aggressor and he had responded accordingly I am sure the west would have viewed this war differently. But only gradually has the conflict morphed into the quagmire it now is, and I have to say that he is largely to blame for that

[Khandro]

ichkeria;//The issue with Assad from the start has always been the methods he has used to conduct warfare, starting initially by massacring peaceful protesters and then systematically bombing civilians.//

Can you give a reliable reference to that, please.

[anotheoldgit]

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
Sir Winston Churchill,