As U.S. attacks Islamic State, Syria steps up assaults on moderate rebels - The Washing... - 0 views
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Syrian government forces have dramatically intensified air and ground assaults on areas held by moderate rebels, attempting to deliver crippling blows as world attention shifts to airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
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Rebels in Aleppo say President Bashar al-Assad’s military has escalated attacks in northern areas of the city, trying to cut the supply lines of opposition fighters inside Aleppo. “During the last three days, we have been hit by over 120 barrel bombs,” said Ahmed Abu Talal, a rebel belonging to the Islamic Front group, referring to particularly deadly high-explosive bombs that are often dropped by helicopter. Syria’s military has virtually encircled the city with the help of Shiite militias from Lebanon and Iran, the Assad regime’s chief ally.
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Rebels and analysts say Assad’s forces are increasing their attacks to exploit what the regime sees as a window of opportunity opened by a campaign that Washington and its allies launched last month against the Islamic State, a heavily armed al-Qaeda offshoot that is also known as ISIS or ISIL.
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I take this article more as an indication of what the current line of pro-war propaganda is in the U.S. than an indication of what is really happening in Syria. Bear in mind that there is no moderate opposition to the Syrian government and all sources for this article are opposition spokesmen and the "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights" in the UK, a one-man show that functions as a U.S. government propaganda mouthpiece.