When I worked in the Middle East back in my younger days I lived in several countries…..Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Jordan……my fondest memories were of the Syrian city of Aleppo….did you know that the concept of a coffee cafe began in Aleppo?

Sorry I digressed….the city was beautiful and very cultural….then the civil war started in Syria and I lost touch with my friends in the city and then I saw the first pics of the damage to a great city…..

Before…….

After…….

It breaks one’s heart to see a glorious city reduced to rubble…..

I read a good piece about the Battle of Aleppo……

Jordan’s Arabic daily al-Dustour [Constitution] is reporting on what it calls ‘the Great Battle for Aleppo.’

Such a battle isn’t, ideally, supposed to be taking place, by the terms of the cessation of hostilities reached in late November. The rebels in East Aleppo (pop. 300,000) and surrounding areas should have ceased attacks, and the regime in West Aleppo (pop. 2 mn.) should have ceased artillery fire. Both should have prepared for new elections in which they could choose members of parliament to their liking.

The cessation of hostilities never included the radical al-Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front or Support Front. It kept attacking regime-held areas south of Aleppo, trying to cut supply lines to West Aleppo. Unfortunately, some of the US-backed Free Syrian Army remnants allied with al-Qaeda in these offensives. Russia used air power to hit back hard, sometimes striking not al-Qaeda but US-backed rebels. Those attacks led US Sec. of State John Kerry to warn a couple of weeks ago that the US was losing patience with Russian and Syrian regime attacks on Free Syrian Army units. But Russia complains that Kerry, despite his promises, has been unable to separate the FSA fighters from their al-Qaeda allies, so it is inevitable that some of the former would get hit in Russian airstrikes on the latter. Last week the Russians said it is they who are losing patience, with the failure of the US-backed ‘vetted’ groups to dissociate themselves from al-Qaeda and its offensives, which break the cease-fire.

Source: The Great Battle for Aleppo | Informed Comment

This may not be much that too many people would be interested in…that really does not matter….it means something to me and that is what is important……but for me it is a shame that men have to make war and destroy…..the city of Aleppo may never return to its beauty….all the history and culture will be lost…..