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Names And Flags Of The 22 Armed Groups In Eastern Aleppo |
Building on an over five-year, almost entirely fictional
narrative about a popular uprising in Syria, recent developments on the
ground in Aleppo have triggered a new propaganda blitz complete with a
new set of provable lies. The following are ten facts about Aleppo that
must be accepted by any objective, informed and rational observer
regardless of one’s political views and opinions regarding Syria.
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Map courtesy of Global Research |
1) Eastern Aleppo was overrun by a foreign-backed, Al-Qaeda-led
terrorist alliance in 2012. At that time, approximately 600,000 Aleppans
fled eastern Aleppo for the security and safety of western Aleppo where
the Syrian government maintained control.
2) Estimates of how many civilians remained in eastern Aleppo vary
widely, but official estimates place the number between 100 and 150
thousand. UN estimates of up to 300,000 are almost certainly inflated
and politically motivated.
3) Eighty to eighty-five percent of the armed fighters in eastern
Aleppo belong to the Jabhat Al-Nusra, the official Al-Qaeda affiliate in
Syria that just underwent a rebranding, complete with a new name and
logo (see image above, top row, second from the left). The remaining
fighters belong to twenty-two (there are constant splits, mergers, and
rebranding among them) terrorist groups that all share the same jihadi
ideology, methods, and objectives as Al-Qaeda.
4) The overwhelming majority of Syrian fighters in eastern Aleppo are
not from Aleppo itself, belying the notion that any part of the city
rose up against the government.
5) The terrorist groups in Aleppo include a large number of foreign
fighters from eighty-one different countries with significant
contingents from Turkey, the Gulf Arab states, North Africa, and
Russia’s Chechnya and North Caucasus region.
6) Armed groups in eastern Aleppo have been deliberately shelling
civilians in western Aleppo. This has led to angry protests against the
Syrian government demanding an end to the shelling and the complete
extirpation of the terrorist presence in eastern Aleppo.
7) This past week eastern Aleppo was finally completely encircled by
the Syrian Army, effectively cutting off the terrorist groups’ supply
routes from Turkey.
8) The Syrian government has offered all Syrian fighters in eastern
Aleppo amnesty in exchange for laying down their weapons and
surrendering to the Syrian authorities.
9) The Syrian military has also established three humanitarian
corridors for civilians to exit eastern Aleppo. The Syrian government
had prepared 10,000 habitable apartment units in western Aleppo for
civilians fleeing in anticipation of a possible final battle. As dozens
of families started to exit armed groups immediately began preventing
civilians from leaving, prompting speculation they intend to use them as
human shields when and if the Syrian Army begins its final entry into
the eastern part of the city.
10) After completing the encirclement of eastern Aleppo the Syrian
government, in a joint mission with the Russian Air Force based at
Hemeimeem Air Base, began a massive humanitarian airlift into eastern
Aleppo. The tragic shoot down of the Russian helicopter this week took
place as it was returning from a humanitarian aid delivery.
Source: Ikhras.com
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