According to U.S. officials the ground troops around the city of Aleppo are a mix of Syrian regime forces, Iranian Quds Force, Hezbollah, and paid mercenaries from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Russian fixed-wing aircraft and Syrian regime helicopters continue to pound the city from the air, and they are still striking Aleppo with artillery batteries outside the city. American officials expect this to continue once the ground forces move in.
The U.S. officials hoped the rebels and residents could hold out a few more weeks, but now that water is in such short supply, they are worried the city will fall much sooner.
U.S. intelligence officials say the regime and Russia have used heavy-duty penetrating ‘bunker buster’ bombs and cluster munitions to target civilian population centers in the rebel-held eastern section of Aleppo, where children are almost half the population.
Stephen O’Brien, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said Sunday that 275,000 people are besieged in the city, where they have been subjected to ‘a level of savagery that no human should have to endure. … Indiscriminate bombing and shelling continues in a shocking and unrelenting manner, killing and maiming civilians.’
O’Brien said the health care system in Eastern Aleppo is ‘all but obliterated. ‘Medical facilities are being hit one by one. I have received reports of attacks on at least three hospitals, including a pediatric hospital providing services to thousands of sick and injured children.’
In recent weeks, White House officials have floated options in Syria including providing surface to air missiles or other advanced weaponry to rebels, officials told NBC News. But military officials believe it’s far too late for that, now that the city is surrounded.
Obama’s critics believe he is paralyzed by what happened in Libya, when the U.S. and its allies intervened in 2011 to avert a humanitarian disaster, only to see the country devolve into a chaotic terrorist safe haven.
But unlike in Libya, the CIA believes there is a credible, moderate Syrian force that could help run the country in a brokered agreement after Assad’s ouster, U.S. officials say.
Source: NBC News, 04 Oct. 2016