Assad Troops Have Taken 52 Percent of Rebel-Held Aleppo, Russia says

ABC ^ | 12/4/2016

[Freelance Warrior]

Russia's military has said Syrian government troops have seized more than 52 percent of the opposition-held east of Aleppo.

An official from the rebel group, Jabha Shamiya, confirmed some of the government's advances to Reuters, saying the troops were now approaching Aleppo's Old City.

On Saturday foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called on all rebel fighters "without exception" to lay down their arms and agree to leave the city.

Lavrov said Kerry had made proposals on Friday that were more "in line with" what Moscow has been suggesting and said that Russia was ready to send negotiators immediately to Geneva to draw up plans with American officials on how to have rebels withdraw from Aleppo. The U.S. has not said whether it is considering that scenario.

Rebel commanders have rejected the proposal, telling news agencies they want humanitarian corridors to be opened for civilians and the wounded but that they will fight on. A senior rebel official from the Fastaqim group, Zakaria Malahifji told Reuters on Sunday that they had told U.S. representatives they are not prepared to leave.

Malahifji, speaking from Turkey, said the U.S. representatives "listened to the response and did not comment."

[yldstrk]

Yeah, that ain’t close to winning..............

[Getready]

Just curious...how do they calculate 52%?...seems like a somewhat purposefully constructed factoid.

[thoughtomator]

time to start a John Kerry Depends Fund

[Freelance Warrior]

Just curious...how do they calculate 52%?...seems like a somewhat purposefully constructed factoid.

Using the list of the captured neighbourhoods and the Aleppo's map. The figure itself is of no importance.

[OldGuard1]

Actually, it is - at least within Aleppo. Capture had been going at a snail's pace, but in the past few days large regions have collapsed. They're near to cutting off al-Shaar from the rest of the rebel pocket as well. That said, the capture of Aleppo would be anything but the end of the war. And the rebels' allies are not taking this sitting down. In the past few days Turkey turned over, for example, 4000 grad rockets to them. And there's renewed noise about the possibility of anti-aircraft missiles, should the Trump administration close down the TOW program as one would expect will happen. Meanwhile, Turkey is sitting on the other side of Aleppo, on the outskirts of al-Bab as part of Euphrates shield. The SAA killed several Turkish shoulders last week in a bombing attack. Turkey has responded by deploying Atılgan air defense systems to the front.

[yldstrk]

2%?

That must be a mighty powerful 2%.

[ari-freedom]

So we have Turkey vs Syria/Russia? That is just great

[trebb]

Just curious...how do they calculate 52%?...seems like a somewhat purposefully constructed factoid.

Basically just a number to indicate what they consider the situation to be - slight edge for Assad but a basic "tie".

[OldGuard1]

Amazing how many international messes somehow magically managed to crop up while Obama was president, isn’t it?

To be fair, Turkey and Russia are talking, which should help deescalate things... most of the time. But it’s still an incredibly dangerous situation. You also have Iran and Hezbollah on the ground in large numbers (most of Assad’s ground forces were lost during the first several years, so an increasing percentage is now foreign). Saudi Arabia (and its allies) would probably be fighting alongside Turkey if they weren’t so bogged down in Yemen.

But yes, Erdogan has become significantly emboldened after the coup attempt. And he’s always hated Assad. So Turkey has been doing this “Euphrates Shield” thing against ISIS (and sometimes the Kurds) for the past several months. But the further they get into Syria and the closer they get to Aleppo, the more itchy the trigger fingers get.

[EliRoom8]

Maybe. But the refugees from the fighting flood to Turkey and then to the other parts of Europe. Turkey will start boating them directly to Greece despite their objection.

[marron]

It took a special kind of incompetence to have Americans rooting for Russia and Assad against our NATO allies.

There are a lot of good reasons to overthrow Assad. But they chose as their tools jihadis who slaughter Christians as recreation. Once that started, no American could support it.

In any case, what is the point of overthrowing Assad while giving Iran a nuke?

[MrEdd]

It took incompetence at all levels for Turkey to still be part of NATO after 1990.

What is past is past.

[Pearls Before Swine]

52 percent. Is that a plurality, a majority, or a mandate?

[Freelance Warrior]

Nothing of the above. It’s a progress bar.

[Lurkinanloomin]

McCain, Graham and Rubio are also deeply saddened that their jihadi buddies they helped arm are getting beaten.