Sarah Glynn reviews the week’s extraordinary events in Syria and examines the evolution and nature of Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham, whose forces have charged through the hollowed-out shell of Bashar al Assad’s regime and potentially beyond the control of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Aleppo
Following the takeover of most of Aleppo by the Turkish-backed Islamist militia group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its allies, fighting between them, the Assad regime forces and Kurdish-led forces is escalating, reports Peter Boyle.
Aleppo and the humanitarian crises has dominated international media in the past weeks. News articles with exceedingly dire headlines have increasingly dominated and many heart wrenching images have emerged of Regime brutality.Â
The released the statement below on December 18.
The capture of formerly rebel-held East Aleppo by the forces of the Bashar Assad dictatorship and its foreign allies has been hailed by Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers as a decisive victory over their opponents that will end the war that has devastated the country since Assad used military force against a civilian protest movement in 2011.
Kurdish fighter in Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood.
Kurdish forces of the People's Protection Units (YPG) responded in an official statement to the Syrian rebels' Aleppo Operations Chamber that said they will attack the Kurds after breaking a regime siege on Aleppo city.