Truce collapses in Aleppo, fighting resumes, large arms deals are revealed
Government forces control almost the entire city, except for a rebel pocket that still resists. With the collapse of evacuation plans brokered by Turkey and Russia, bombing starts up again. Rebels hoarded food and aid destined for civilians. East European weapons provided to rebels via Gulf States.
Aleppo (AsiaNews) – Aleppo is again under bombardment. Government forces fired rockets and shelled the part of the city that is still left in rebel hands.
Local witnesses confirmed the resumption of fighting and that the evacuation plan previously agreed had collapsed. Had it been carried out, civilians and the remaining rebels, still numbering in the thousands, would have been able leave the city. Empty government buses are still lined up outside the combat zone waiting for what happens next.
A Syrian-Iranian demand to move out the wounded and civilians from two towns under rebel siege brought the evacuation to a halt and trigger renewed fighting.
The United Nations were not involved in the deal and did not participate in evacuation operations. However, the world body said that it was ready to act in case of need. Yesterday UN sources had warned of "atrocities" and of civilians executed by pro-government militias.
Sources told AsiaNews that rockets launched from rebel-held areas have landed in the western sector causing “eight deaths and more than 40 wounded."
"The truce is still far away,” the source said, “not least because it is still unclear where armed Syrian Kurds stand, and what pro-government militias will do. The latter are very corrupt, and must somehow be dealt with by the regular army.”
In recent days, intensive negotiations between Moscow and Ankara have led to a deal on letting rebels leave the five km redoubt to which they pulled back following the onslaught of Syrian forces, backed by Russia and Hezbollah.
The agreement provided for the evacuation of civilians, followed by some 5,000 rebel fighters, who would fall back to Aleppo’s outskirts, and to the east, towards Idlib, and the Turkish border.
The deal highlights Turkey’s influence on Syrian rebels and Jihadis, which are effectively swayed by what Turkish authorities want, and on whom they have been depended for years.
The Syrians are celebrating their military victory, but the city of Aleppo is emerging in all of its tragic devastation: a doomsday scenario of ashes, rubble and misery.
Whilst the whole world (especially the West) protested against the fate of hungry and destitute civilians in east Aleppo, unable to receive humanitarian aid, Pan-Arab television Al Mayadeen provided the start of an answer.
In a report from the eastern sector, the satellite TV station showed who was really starving the population. After the liberation of the Bustan Al Qasr neighbourhood, journalists found a depot once held by Jihadis in the al Yarmuk school full of food, clothes and medicines, whilst civilians endured hunger and hardships.
The remaining residents – women, seniors and children – tried to take the tonnes of food and basic necessities, carrying boxes and bags on their shoulders, a sure sign of their malnutrition.
The fact that Jihadis hoarded both food and humanitarian aid, depriving civilians, explains why people in the eastern sector went hungry and seemed emaciated and worn out, whilst rebels appeared healthy and well fed in videos and social media.
Aleppo’s liberation also unearthed another mystery, namely the market for East European weapons bought by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose militaries are equipped with American hardware.
In eastern Europe, the local military industries were kept alive by the buying spree of Gulf States. Since 2103, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE bought eastern European weapons and shipped them to Jihadis in Syria and Yemen, a flow that only ended recently.
Bulgarian-made machine guns, anti-tanks rockets, and other weapons, as well as Bulgarian versions of Russian rockets were found in Aleppo’s old city, in hideouts held by the al-Nusra Front (formerly a branch of al Qaeda) and pro-Turkish Nur al-Din al-Zenki.
In late 2014, Saudi planes landed in Bulgarian airports, drawing attention since this was their first time there since 1991. Some amateur photographers took pictures of Saudi Boeing 747 cargo planes and UAE Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 in the airports of Burgas and Sofia.
The mystery was solved when the Bulgarian Defence Ministry released its annual report, noting that Bulgaria had agreed to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia to the tune of US$ 90 million.
The following year, the report indicated sales to Saudi Arabia worth some US$ 31 million. Also in 2015, the UAE also bought Russian weapons from Bulgaria.
Previously, Wikileaks made public the content of a telegram sent by the US Embassy in Sofia, indicating that the UAE had extended a loan for the purchase of Bulgarian arms to be sent to the Government of Yemen in 2010.
The deal involved dozens of machine guns, mines, missiles and rockets, which revived Bulgaria’s declining military industry.
In 2014, thanks to Jihadi war in Syria and Yemen, official Bulgarian arms sales reached US$ 430 million.
From October 2014 to May 2015, planes flew nine times from Bulgaria to the airports of Jeddah and Tabuk, the latter being near the Jordanian-Saudi border, carrying 60 to 80 tonnes of Soviet-made weapons. Last June and August, more UAE planes flew from Burgas and Sofia to Abu Dhabi. A
According to a UN report on arms trafficking released in early 2015, 830 machine guns and 120 SPG-9s were sent to Saudi Arabia.
In early 2015, the Syrian Defence Ministry announced that Bulgarian weapons had been found in tunnels Jihadis used for evacuation. They included mines, anti-tanks rockets, Kalashnikov machine guns and RPG rockets, all made in Bulgaria.
More were found in Hama, Homs and several Aleppo districts, after coming through the borders of Jordan and Turkey.
After arming and providing logistical support to Jihadi groups like the al Nusra Front and Nur al-Din al-Zenki in Syria, Turkey is now trying to get them out of Aleppo.
This begs the question: At what price? What has Russia given in return? Once again, as before with the United States, Syrian Kurds appear to be the sacrificial victims. (PB)
.png)
