Posted on 12/15/2016 8:02:34 AM PST by Freelance Warrior
Syrian state TV showed footage of ambulances and a long line of green buses leaving eastern Aleppo.
BBC producer Riam Dalati says the first convoy has now arrived at a "handover point" in rebel-held areas to the west.
Russia's defence ministry has said buses are taking the injured, civilians and rebel fighters to the neighbouring province of Idlib, most of which is controlled by a powerful rebel alliance that includes the jihadist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.
The chief of the Russian military's General Staff, Gen Valery Gerasimov, told a news briefing: "A humanitarian corridor has been created for the evacuation of militants". Twenty passenger buses and 10 ambulances were being used for the operation. Some rebels were using their own vehicles, numbering 100, he said.
Elizabeth Hoff, of the World Health Organization, said the operation was "going smoothly".
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
WTF !?!?!
they are letting them LEAVE ! and go occupy ANOTHER CITY !!?!
KILL THEM ALL !~!!!!!!!!
Impossible !
Moving them to rebel held territory. They are the enemy.
Can we stay out of that mess?
Sure.
Good!
Aleppo is urban terrain, the militants are being bussed to the country. Think of the civilians and of the cornered rat. Last but not least, the militants are Muslim.
It was an agreed transfer, a pocket of regime evacuated near Idlib and rebels from Allepo were allowed to go to Idlib
“they are letting them LEAVE !”
It is an economy of force measure. It has also been a common practice during this war.
By getting them out into the countryside, they don’t have to level the city. Fighting in the open results in fewer losses for the Regime/Russians than urban warfare. Some of the jihadis may flee to Turkey as well, reducing how many they must fight.
The Regime has to conserve it’s forces for the long haul, because the jihadis get replacements from outside the country (although that has really slowed down this last year).
It states in the article... they are going to ANOTHER rebel held city!
this isn’t about “getting them out in the open” this is about letting them escape and to terrorism ANOTHER city which will have to also be taken back, block by block.. at which time just as they are about to win... they will let them leave and go back to the original city so they can start over.
“this isn’t about “getting them out in the open” this is about letting them escape”
That is essentially true.
They will get them out of the big city though (Aleppo is the biggest city in Syria). When they let the jihadis retreat, they will lose control over where they might go.
My point is that the Syrian Arab Army is punched out, and must conserve its forces. They have taken massive casualties. They are a shell of what they were before the war. If they could easily manage a costly defeat in detail (killing the enemy to their last man) in a dense urban environment, neither the Syrian Regime, nor their Russian allies, nor their Iranian allies would be shy about doing so.
The Syrian Regime needs to conserve its combat power to consolidate and protect their gains against potential counter-attack - the Turkish Army itself is inside Syria, close to the North-East Suburbs of Aleppo (Outside al Bab).
ISIS is not far away from Aleppo either. Their surprise recapture of Palmyra in the last week demonstrated how vulnerable the Regime’s gains still are. ISIS overran one of the Russians most important airbases (T4) in that offensive.
This has been a long struggle (about as long as WWII), which has produced the biggest refugee crisis since WWII. It has been a real endurance contest for survival.
Things are likely to shift big time in Syria, after the Trump Administration comes in.
I am confused.
If all the rebels are leaving the city in one big convoy... simply bomb the convoy from the air and be done with this.
easy peasey.
I believe that they are shuttling buses in groups, and many jihadis are driving their own vehicles. Each group is about 1,000, including lots of non-combatant women and children (mostly the families, widows and orphans of the jihadis).
Pretty much all of them have cell phones, so word of a double cross would get out within the minute.
This is apparently a deal between Turkey and Russia - so if they want the credibility to do a bigger settlement later, they need to maintain their credibility.
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