Tue Mar 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

Aleppo: The rebel forces break the military siege and gain ground from the dictatorship

After almost a month of extremely harsh fights, a coalition of rebel militias announced this Saturday they got to break the siege of the regular Syrian Army over Aleppo. The National Syrian Coalition, alleging to represent the exiled “opposition”, confirmed the news. The determinant factor for this military feat was the entrance of rebels in the neighborhood of Ramusa, in the periphery of the city, until then controlled by Assad’s dictatorship. From this position, the network of militias could reach the rebel neighborhoods at the East of the Capital, called the “Capital of the Revolution”.

By Daniel Sugasti.

 

This is a major fact for the course of the civil war and the Syrian Revolution itself, that for over five years has been fighting, in unequal conditions, the troops of Assad’s dictatorship, which are not only superior regarding armament, but are also politically and militarily supported by Russia-Hezbollah-Iran from nearly the beginning of the conflict.

To the Syrian Observatory for the Human Rights (SOHR), this rebel triumph means “the biggest military and moral lost of the regime and its Russian, Iranian and Hezbollah allies since the beginning of 2013” (Deutsche Welle).

Around 300.000 people were trapped in the second city of the country, living a dramatic lack of food, water, fuel and, worst, under intense air strikes of the regime and the Russian aviation. According estimates of the SOHR, just in the last week 500 hundred fighters died, from both sides died.

It is common to hear that “winning Aleppo is winning the war”. The city is basically divided into two areas since 2012: in the East, the rebels hold control, and in the West, the regime.

The rebel force that broke the siege is heterogeneous: it is conformed by several brigades arriving to Aleppo from all directions in Syria, gathering around 10.000 fighters. These brigades act under what is called the Army of Conquest, gathering some Salafist[1] militias, like the “new” Fateh al Sham (Conquest of the Levant, former al Nusra)[2], but also a significant presence of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

Now, the Syrian rebels wait for the counter-offensive of the pole Assad-Russia-Hezbollah, that denies the break of the siege; pole that strengthened last Sunday with the arrival of around 2.000 soldiers from the Movement of Islamic Resistance of Iraq (Hezbollah al Noyaba), at South Aleppo, joining the Syrian troops aiming to stop the rebel offensive.

New rebel advances

Since the break of the siege, the rebel Syrian sectors got new advances in the South West of Aleppo. The goal is to guarantee the safety of the open corridor to the neighborhoods located in the East region of this city. The combats hold base in the factories and public buildings of Ramusa. The rebels took control of the headquarters of the Artillery College and the Technical School of Aviation, one day after taking control of the Armament Academy, according to the SOHR.

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The corridor is not completely safe, due to the Syrian and Russian air strikes. However, the General Director of SOHR, Rami Abderrahman, confirmed that three vehicles with vegetables reached the East neighborhoods through this corridor, what represents a symbolic fact with positive impact for the rebels’ moral.

For the victory of the Syrian Revolution! Arms for the rebel brigades!

The military progress obtained over the last days is undoubtedly very important. They show the revolution continues, and it is still resisting. The Syrian people have not been defeated.

Nevertheless, the distressing conditions under which this combat takes places are undeniable. The Syrian resistance lacks the necessary heavy weapons to change the course of the war, so to make a general offensive and defeat Assad-Russia-Hezbollah-Iran, as much as the Islamic State. It is a must that all organizations that call themselves leftists and democratic to take position in favor of the triumph of the Syrian Revolution, and demand to the governments to break the commercial and diplomatic relations with the assassin regime of Assad, but also to send heavy weaponry, fighter jets and cutting-edge military technology to the rebel forces so they can win the war.

The role of Stalinism and Castro-Chavism, taking position on the side of the bloody, pro-imperialist Arab dictatorships against the people struggle is nefarious, and it must be denounced and confronted by every coherent democrat and revolutionary. It is the moment to close ranks around the triumph of the Syrian Revolution. Its victory would be a powerful incentive for the process happening, with high and lows, in the whole region of Middle East and North Africa.

But for the Syrian Revolution to achieve victory; that is, for the Syrian dictatorial regime to be destroyed, and the revolutionary process to advance towards a government of the working class to begin the construction for socialism, it is vital to build a revolutionary leadership to dispute the hegemony and direction of the war with the rest of the leaderships, detached from the working class and the oppressed sectors, be them Islamists or not. Active solidarity at an international level, and construction of a revolutionary leadership, are two necessary conditions to win the war and consummate the triumph of the Syrian Revolution.

For the Syrian Revolution Victory!

Down with the Syrian regime and the Islamic State! Stop the air strikes from Russia and the imperialism!

For the construction of a revolutionary leadership to win the war!

***

Notes:

[1] A more rigorous and literal interpretation of the Islam.

[2] The al Nusra Front broke officially with Al Qaeda by the end of July of this year, although they kept the same theocratic reactionary program.

***

Translation: Sofía Ballack.

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