As Syrian government gains ground in Aleppo, it loses its people
鈥� A daily summary of global reports on security issues.
Reports out of Aleppo indicate that Syrian government troops launching an assault on the city have so far been unable to retake rebel-held neighborhoods there, despite the use of heavy weapons such as tanks and helicopter gunships.
Yesterday Syrian state media reported government victories in two Aleppo neighborhoods, but , telling The Associated Press that there has been only "fierce shelling" and some fighting on the ground.
But the regime remains much better armed than the rebels. The leader of the Syrian National Council聽(SNC), the main opposition group, requested countries ignore United Nations Security Council opposition that would allow the rebels to actually fight back against the regime's superior weaponry, Reuters reports.
"The rebels are fighting with primitive weapons... We want weapons that we can stop tanks and planes with," SNC chief Abdelbasset Seida said in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.聽"Our friends and allies will bear responsibility for what is happening in Aleppo if they do not move soon."
The brutality of the regime's offensive to retake Aleppo will be the beginning of the end of President Bashar al-Assad's rule, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta , according to Reuters.
"If they continue this kind of tragic attack on their own people in Aleppo, I think it ultimately will be a nail in Assad's own coffin," Mr. Panetta told reporters.
"What Assad has been doing to his own people and what he continues to do to his own people makes clear that his regime is coming to an end. It's lost all legitimacy," he said, adding, "It's no longer a question of whether he's coming to an end, it's when."
Valerie Amos of the UN humanitarian affairs agency said yesterday that聽聽in just the past two days, and Arab League 肠丑颈别蹿听Nabil Elaraby voiced concerns that war crimes are being committed in the city, CNN 谤别辫辞谤迟蝉.听
Comments from residents in Damascus back up Panetta's claim. The government has reasserted control over the Syrian capital, but the success has come with a cost from the public, Reuters reports.
"To begin with I was with the regime, for sure," said Ahmed, from one of the southern suburbs where the Army, backed by helicopters and tanks, launched its counteroffensive.聽"But now, no, the regime must go. Take what they want with them, but they must go."
海角大神's Scott Peterson heard similar accounts of turning points when in Aleppo last week.
Abu Omar, for example, says he left his special forces unit while deployed to a rebel-held area of northwest Syria.
鈥淭hey gave us orders to kill the people who don鈥檛 have a gun, but who just went out of their homes and shouted 鈥榝reedom,鈥欌�� says Abu Omar. 鈥淭here were girls and little boys killed. I was just shooting in the sky. If we don鈥檛 shoot, they take us to jail, or kill us there.鈥�
Likewise, Abu Hamza left the Syrian police after being ordered to shoot people as they left Friday prayers in the coastal town of聽Latakia聽after they began shouting 鈥淕od is great.鈥�
鈥淢y moral sense wouldn鈥檛 let me do it,鈥� Abu Hamza recalls. He still carries his police ID card. 鈥淢y father and brother go to mosque and shout in Aleppo every Friday. How could I shoot such people in Latakia? These people are family.鈥�
