Blame Game Starts as Aleppo’s Rebels Fall

Civilians and rebel fighters are trapped in a small section of eastern Aleppo, after that part of the city was pounded for months by Russian airstrikes, Syrian ground forces and Iranian militias. The war began in 2011. Europe, the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and a few other nations selectively supported rebel fighters. Russia then intervened in September 2015. Reports describe hospitals and aid convoys hit by missiles and soldiers surrendering only to be shot, scenes of wounded amid endless gray rubble and pleas for help from men, women and children. Angry words were exchanged at the UN Security Council, and frustration builds about the inability of the international community to stop the atrocities. The BBC News suggests that, even after the fall of Aleppo, war will continue, and jihadists used the fighting at Aleppo as a distraction. “Many rebel fighters might be yearning to put down their guns down,” writes Jeremy Bowen for BBC News. “But in a destroyed country that could be dominated by foreign intervention, warlords and militias for years, it might be easier to fight on than stop.”– YaleGlobal