There are many of us in the Libertarian/Anarchist realms who are aware of what is happening in regards to Aleppo and the Syrian Civil War. I'm sure there are many of us who DO NOT know what is going on and just feign knowledge because we can see that this is a hot button topic that has too much religious and government involvement to sift through.
Let's start off with the infamous joke about Gary Johnson and his famed "What is Aleppo?" comment.... Which, I really don't hold against him. I hadn't heard about Aleppo much before him. I think a large reason why Aleppo became a popular topic is actually because Gary didn't know what it was! I mean, any excuse to make a presidential candidate look like a fool and the American public/media jumps all over it... Well.... I have only met in real life, ONE living, breathing person who knew what Aleppo was.... and he was a liberal progressive who follows politics very closely and I'm sure that the second he heard Johnson being questioned, he looked it up immediately and made sure he was well versed on the topic... ( Austin if you're reading this, I love you.)
To be clear: This is not for people who do their due diligence and research, read, and explore topics on their own. This topic obviously goes much deeper than I attempted to go in this article. There are other news sources to get information from (I don't even want to touch the "fake news" stuff yet... maybe that will be my next article). There are better articles out there. There is much I did not include here. This isn't meant to be a groundbreaking piece... I just wrote this with specific people in mind... the person at work or the family member at Christmas dinner or the friend who asked me over drinks...
"What is Aleppo?"
Aleppo is a city located in the Northern region of Syria. It is one of the oldest cities in the world with a rich history that ranges from being a trading post on The Silk Road to being referenced in Shakespeare. It is located near Iraq (in the past, Mesopotamia), next to the Mediterranean Sea. In 2004 a census revealed that over 2 million people inhabited Aleppo ( If you need an idea of how large a city that is, think like, Houston, Texas). It had been (until recently) a mainstay in Syrian trade and industry with Turkey, Iraq, and Jordan, among other nations. Tourists would travel to Aleppo to visit Souk, the city's medieval marketplace. Filled with families who had lived on the same street for generations, this city was an almost untouched cultural hub in the Middle East - certainly a place that any world traveler might put near the top of places they would like to visit. Images of Aleppo are breathtaking. The city seemed to sparkle with a mystical, hypnotic energy. Now the images are grey, dust hangs thick in the air, and the beautifully sculpted buildings are pockmarked with holes.
So, what happened to it?
- In 2011, "Arab Spring" (a movement against certain countries governments in the Middle East due to lack of freedoms and general economic woes of the people) removed Tunisian and Egyptian presidents from power. These revolts gave hope to certain Syrian groups who were interested in the same governmental coups.
- In March of 2011, a group of Syrian teenagers used graffiti to make public their support of the "Arab Spring" revolts and the boys were captured by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces. One of the boys was brutally tortured and killed, as an example to the rebels. He was only 13 years old.
- Rebels protested the boy's death (in a place where people are not allowed to gather in groups greater than 5, so that protests are non-existent) and Bashar responded by killing hundreds of protesters and imprisoning many others.
- In July of 2011, the Free Syrian Army (a group of former Syrian military personnel) announced its formation and hopes for dismantling and overthrowing the "Assad Regime".
Thus began the messy and inglorious civil war in Syria. Rebel groups made up of the Free Syrian Army, fighters from Turkey, Quatar, Saudi Arabia, support from ISIS and ISIL (Islamic State or Iraq and Levant) and others began to move into Syrian cities, villages, and towns in attempts to oust the government.
The "Assad Regime" (often referred to as just "the government") receives support from a majority of the minority religious groups, including area Christians, majority-shia Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Hezbollah, Iranian fighters, and Afghan fighters. Probably the most notable of the Assad Regime's support system is Russia, who has been involved in assisting the government maintain control of Syria.
Here is where Aleppo comes in. Aleppo was the largest city in Syria. It remained generally removed from the turmoil until July of 2012 when the opposition forces finally made their way to the city. The fighting that erupted resulted in the harsh divide of the city to East Aleppo and West Aleppo (Berlin wall, anybody?). E.Aleppo was controlled by the rebels and W.Aleppo, controlled by the government. Due to the population size and importance of the city of Aleppo (despite it not being the capital of Syria), the government decided it would not lose this city and it launched a very destructive attack on the Eastern part of the city.
Russian and Syrian warplanes have bombed E.Aleppo incessantly. The rebels have launched homemade bombs and mortars into W.Aleppo. The rebels fear that they face being treated like "terrorists" if they are captured by the Assad Regime. There are reports of extrajudicial killings by the government. The rebel forces, activists, humanitarians supporting the wounded, hungry, and homeless fear death if they remain in the rebel-controlled areas due to bombing and fighting. They fear death if they flee into government controlled areas. When rebels are able to speak to outside reporters they express great distrust in the government in regards to their futures. Many rebels took to social media to give their last goodbyes during bombings last month... many of them have not been heard from since. Civilians in the rebel-controlled areas do not want to go into government-controlled lands because they've been threatened with prison and torture for protesting the government, providing medical care to rebels, and speaking to foreign journalists despite promises from government officials that they will not be treated as terrorists.
These attacks (along with the resistance of the rebels) has been ongoing for the last 4 1/2 years. The city was quite literally divided in two halves until the "ceasefire" was called this past December, leaving the Eastern half of Aleppo in ruins. Homes, businesses, schools, and hospitals are filled with rubble and bodies. Thousands of dead have not been identified. Many have not been identified because whole families are wiped out and no one is looking for them... Russia, just days ago, reported finding mass graves now that they are able to sift through the remains of E.Aleppo.
Bombing continued through early December due to an offensive attack the Syrian Army launched on E.Aleppo on November 26th. By December 13th, the government claimed they had 98% of E. Aleppo under control.
It is estimated that around 500,000 people lost their lives in the fight for Aleppo. That's close to a quarter of the population of the city. Think back to Houston, Texas. Imagine 500,000 of Houston's inhabitants obliterated.
At first the ceasefire seemed too good to be true because bombings continued after the ceasefire was called. It eventually calmed while officials talked. Finally, rebel forces, activists, supporters, and civilians were able to exit the fallen Eastern portion of Aleppo and escape to safer rebel-held lands (because remember, they don't want to go to the government-held area so they have to actually evacuate the city). On December 16th, the evacuation was halted for an unknown reason with only 8000 people able to leave the city. At that time it was estimated that somewhere between 50,000 - 100,000 people remained in the ravaged E.Aleppo.
As of a few days ago, the last of the Aleppo rebels were able to exit the city. There is continued bombing and fighting on the outskirts of the city as there are rebels trapped there who continue to try to flee city limits and escape the Assad Regime.
The rebels and civilians have descended largely upon a rebel-held city, Idlib. The residents of Idlib are fighting to provide medical care, shelter, and food to the thousands of refugees from Aleppo that are suffering from malnutrition, hypothermia, and infected wounds.
Idlib now being the greatest population of rebels, it is the likely target for the Assad Regime's next offensive attack. Fighting in Aleppo seems to have ceased but the Syrian Civil War continues. There will be more cities destroyed by this war; more lives lost. The respite for these refugees is likely only temporary.
The point of this is not for you to choose a side. Choosing sides is unrealistic and schismatic as the fighting here is many generations deep and pertains to religious and political factions that many of us do not identify with. This specific civil war can be traced back to the beginning of Bashar al-Assad's father's reign, Hafez al-Assad, who became President in 1971 (and further). He instituted a new Syrian Constitution which did not require the Syrian President to be Muslim, which infuriated the Muslim Brotherhood organization and began many years of attempted uprising during HIS presidency.
To be sure, this is not a conflict that can be resolved easily. There are many factions involved. Even the rebel forces have issues being united as there are many different religions and groups represented among the rebel forces. The Assad Regime has managed to survive many years of conflict and will probably continue to do so.
One question you might be asking is, where is the US in this conflict? Not that I support US involvement.... but the US seems to think everybody's business is their business... and they love to kick in everyone's front door and make sure that whatever government exists in a place, it is beneficial for them....
The short answer is that they have a very sticky non-existent role in the Syrian Civil War.
The US has vocalized their opposition to the Assad Regime due to the fact that Assad has used chemical warfare on his people, prompting President Obama to make a statement that this behavior of his warranted an investigation. The US briefly trained Syrian rebels but quickly backed out of any involvement when they spent 500 MILLION dollars to train 60 Syrian rebels. However, the US has been bombing ISIS and ISIL since 2014 (groups which stand in opposition to Assad). Russia supplies military aide and advisers to Assad and recently asked the US to take a stance or offer assistance.
So they attempted to help the rebels but they bomb their allies and won't openly assist Assad?
As I said before... there is much more to this but in brief, perhaps you now have a better idea of what is going on in Syria.... a light bulb maybe went off and now you know why there are so many "Syrian Refugees" in Europe. Now you know what Aleppo is or was...
I suppose that what is important here is the idea that "it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye". Wars, conflict, rebels, revolutions.... it's all great in theory until it's in your backyard. In Aleppo there were people, families, kids... who knew war was taking place in cities around them... but when it came to their own backyards, they weren't ready for the havoc it brought with it. I know Syria is a great distance from here... but it reminds me of how I take for granted that we haven't had a war fought on our soil for many, many years. Why don't we care more about events taking place elsewhere? Why don't we care about Syria? Is it because we don't have to see it? Is it because we don't have to experience it? Our children aren't orphaned? Our families aren't going hungry? We aren't used to hearing bombs explode and shells raining down on our roofs? We don't have our roofs blown off in the middle of the night?
I'm not sure what the appropriate response here is. I can't pretend that the answers are easy. Maybe there aren't answers. Maybe we just watch from afar... the degradation of humanity, the loss of basic human decency. Or maybe we are faced with the reality that here, on the Eve of 2017, human decency just simply has not and will not ever exist.
What is Aleppo?
Aleppo is an example; a real-life allegory for the atrocity of war and the desire of man to control his fellow man.
Articles:
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-where-is-aleppo-20160908-snap-story.html
http://www.complex.com/life/2016/12/ceasefire-evacuation-deal-reached-in-aleppo
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/syria-civil-war-explained-160505084119966.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/23/506713908/emptied-east-aleppo-now-regime-controlled-but-syrias-civil-war-rages-on