Kneeling on a rooftop, a woman jams a stick down a long pipe. With no electricity, residents now use diesel fuel for heat, which clogs the chimneys with soot. Nearby, on Bab al-Nayrab street, goats rummage through a quarter-mile of garbage. Its putrid stench extends even farther.
As fighting in Syria’s largest city enters its sixth month, the economy has ground to a halt. There is no electricity, and the prices of basic goods such as bread and cooking oil have skyrocketed. Residents are selling off their possessions to survive.
The rebels’ hope for a quick victory in Aleppo has given way to the reality that there is no end in sight to this war. Though the rebels recently seized the Sheikh Suleiman Air Base and the Infantry School on the outskirts of Aleppo, the regime still controls large swaths of the city itself and regularly shells rebel-held zones.
The creation of a new government-in-exile and a unified military command means little to families on the front lines, fervently hoping the next shell will not land in their living room. The new National Coalition offers them neither the necessities or the security they pine for.
Ahmad Mustafa makes jeans in a clothing factory. The 30-year-old father of 10 did not participate in the protests that preceded the armed conflict. “I just want to work,” he says.
With no electricity to power his television for almost a month now, he does not follow current events. “I know nothing about the Coalition or politics,” Mustafa says, stroking the head of one his many daughters. “I just focus on surviving.”
Lines for a bag of pita bread, up to seven hours long, are the latest addition to every rebel-held neighborhood. Better organized bakeries have set up lottery systems; at others, a mad rush ensues when stores open. Burly men wrestle to get to the front while those behind them push forward, crushing people at the delivery window. At the back of the line, Salwa Badri grimaces as she watches the jostling. “This is a nightmare,” the 36-year-old mother exclaims. “Why has Allah abandoned us to this?”
In fact it is the regime of Bashar al-Assad that has abandoned much of eastern Aleppo to the rebels of the Free Syrian Army, who have no experience dealing with everyday tasks such as distributing flour and oil.
“We did not think the F.S.A. would fail as badly as it has,” said Musab Muhammad, a professor of electrical engineering at the Aleppo university. “Its mistakes are causing it to lose the support of the people.”
While the F.S.A.’s performance is eroding its support, the National Coalition has none to lose. A shell with no grass-roots operation, it does not have the wherewithal to meet daily needs. If the coalition is to get any traction in the population, it will need to make its presence better known. Its members will have to spend more time dealing with flour distribution and less in Western capitals seeking aid that does not trickle down to Mustafa or Badri.
In the rubble of what was once a cultural center in the southern neighborhood of Fardus, several hundred people are holding another demonstration against the regime. “Advance, O Free Army! Grasp determination and perseverance boldly. Your land will return through blood. Stand up, do not give way,” shouts Faisal Abdallah. “We do not want the regime to oppress us any longer,” he explains.
Abdallah is 21, and the other protesters look to be under 25. Older men observer from afar. When a foreigner approaches an older man standing with a bag of tomatoes and cucumbers, he quickly moves away. “I don’t want any trouble,” he mumbles, evidently fearful that a conversation with a stranger might reach a regime that still controls parts of the city. By its absence from the opposition rallies, the silent majority signals that it is not yet prepared to throw its lot in with the rebels.
We often hear reports that the Assad regime is near collapse, that the rebels’ string of victories has pushed the government to the brink of defeat. But in Aleppo, there is little sign of that.
After the rebels’ initial successes in early December, the war within the city has ground to a halt. The battle on the front lines in the neighborhoods of Bustan al-Pasha and Salah al-Din remains deadlocked. As long as it remains so — and it is likely to be a long time — Mustafa and Badri have little hope of waking up from the nightmare of the battle for Aleppo to find their houses warm and their electricity running.
#1 by Jean on January 10, 2013 - 8:45 pm
Bad is not near as bad as worse and now its much worse then it was. They were eating and sleeping in their own beds before this uprising. Now, they do not know if they will live to see the
next day. To fight a modern army without the majority of the people in favor of it is suicide.
#2 by bigcree1Shadowhawk on January 11, 2013 - 2:14 am
Since thins comes from the NU Times one must read through the obvious lies and vilification of Syria’s Majority and their elected leader Bashar Al Assad. He will not fall and this Zionist led nightmare of misery will end. The alleged ‘rebels’ will either give up and go home or be defeated and imprisoned as they should be. This whole affair was a farce to begin with and the world is sick of Jewish meddling in the affairs of others. Assad will stand tall and strong with the people solidly behind him. To the Zionist thugs trying desperately to unseat him: GO HOME! leave the Syrian people to their own business!
#3 by Bob on January 11, 2013 - 5:16 am
From my uinderstanding, most of the “fighters” are foreigners who are being paid to fight. They have no real stake in Syria. I am not Syrian, nor have I travelled there or even spoken to anyone who is there, so my knowledge of the situation is merelywhat I can gather from various reports coming out of there….and these often conflict.
That being said, it does appear that this is another classic caseof “divide and conquer”. Someone has clearly sought to exploit existing fractures and tensions within Syrian society, particularly along sectarian and ethnic lines. Outside powers are financing, arming, training and paying the “rebels” and some reports indicate that these outside powers even have people on the ground actually directing operations.
If these “rebels” had any substantial support among the population, with the support they have recieved from abroad they should have easily ousted the Syrian regime. Assad himself seems to have received very litle support to assit in putting down this insurgency. Most Russian support (aside from normal arms sales) seems to have been largely targeted on equipment to deter foreign intervention, not actually fighting these “rebels”. There is much talk about Iranian involvement, but I have seen no detailed reports of any Iranian forces involved in the fighting. From what can bee seen from here, it seems as though the Assad regime is essentially standing on its own and is not being “propped up” by any outside power. To me that speaks volumes about where the real popular support must reside.
Assad may yet be defeated (or not), I have no way to know for sure, but the one thing that I do not believe can be honestly said about him is that he does not have the support of a very large percentage of the population (and probably a large majority from the looks of things).
I don’t iknow that there is a country on this planet which has a diverse population which could have resisted the kind of foreign intervention that Syria has already experienced….and I include many “first world” states in that list. Whenever I hear people make stupid comments about how “diversity gives the US strength” I think about places like Syria…What diversity does is provide easily exploitable fault lines which can be used by outside (or internal) interests to creat turmoil and unrest. The USA itself could not survive intevention on the kind of scale we have seen in Syria.
Imagine for a moment that some foriegn powers began recruiting and arming Mexicans to enter the US and fight to extablish their state ofr Atzlan. That the large hispanic population in the US Southwest was incited by this influx of foreign money and weapons (and “advisers”) to join in this revolt. Not all would join, perhaps even a majority of them would sit on the sidelines and await the outcome. But if the kind of funding and effort (proportionally speaking) that has been poured into Syria were poured into destabilizing the USA, The US military and government would simply lack the resources to do much more than the Assad regime has done in Syria.
If I have learned nothing else in the years since 9/11 it is that IT CAN HAPPEN HERE. Anyone who thinks that the US could not be easily destabilized and plunged into domestic chaos has not been paying attention. We have a very very large number of unassimilated hispanics in this country and active hispanic political movements agitating for just such a scenario. All they lack is a patron willing to supply the funding and support. We have become so accustomed to meddling in the affairs of others that we have completely lost site of the reality that we could find ourselves on the receiving end of this same kind of meddling. How many Americans even realize just how vulnerable we are? This nation expends more than the next dozen or so countries combined on military and security services….but very little of that money is spent “defending” the USA. It is almost all spent to meddle in the affairs of others….
The US today is beginning to resemble the old Hapsburg Empire more than the Roman Empire…An empire comprised of disparate peoples speaking different languages, with different cultures, historical experiences and most of all, different interests. Ain’t diversity grand?
#4 by Ingrid B on January 11, 2013 - 4:35 pm
“In fact it is the regime of Bashar al-Assad that has abandoned much of eastern Aleppo to the rebels of the Free Syrian Army, who have no experience dealing with everyday tasks such as distributing flour and oil.” :
and
“We did not think the F.S.A. would fail as badly as it has,” said Musab Muhammad, a professor of electrical engineering at the Aleppo university. “Its mistakes are causing it to lose the support of the people.”
and
““Advance, O Free Army! Grasp determination and perseverance boldly. Your land will return through blood. Stand up, do not give way,” shouts Faisal Abdallah. “We do not want the regime to oppress us any longer,” he explains.” :
The NY Times is a jew rag, and this piece causes me to wonder if the Free Syrian Army is about to be abandoned by their backers, and financiers.. Faisal Abdallah must be one of Kaukab Siddique`s traitor/killer buddies..