A CIA/Turkish Army Trapped
- Obama's unconstitutional war supporting the Syrian "moderates" is going badly.
- Question - Is ISIS simply an excuse for Obama to go into Syria in support of the "moderate" rebels the CIA, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been arming for years?
ISTANBUL — Rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad called Friday for help from the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State, saying the Syrian military is close to encircling the city of Aleppo and cutting off rebel supply routes to Turkey.
In a statement, the Syrian Opposition Coalition, once hailed by the United States as the only legitimate representative of the Syrian people, called for U.S. assistance, warning of dire results if Assad’s forces are able to seize the town of Handarat, just north of the Aleppo city limits. That would cut the Castello road, which is the only route in and out of the rebel-held eastern portion of Aleppo, essentially trapping the rebel forces.
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Rebel activists say the anti-Assad forces are desperately summoning reinforcements to Handarat.Rebel activists say the anti-Assad forces are desperately summoning reinforcements to Handarat.
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“This is the most important battle in Syria now, because if the regime succeeds he will be able to isolate Aleppo and take the whole north of Syria,” said Muhammad Badr Eddin, an activist based in Mare, a town about 20 miles north of Aleppo reports McClatchy News.
A spokeswoman for Legion 5, an umbrella group of rebel units that receive American support through a covert CIA program, said that rebels are using TOW anti-tank missiles in their battle to slow the government advance. The spokeswoman, who identified herself only by the nom de guerre Um Mahmoud, or Mahmoud’s mother, said combat was often hand to hand and that the rebels would “fight to the bitter end.”
Um Mahmoud also denounced a claim by another rebel figure, Gen. Abduljabbar al Akidi, the former head of the opposition Aleppo military council, that the rebels were sending 1,500 troops to Kobani to fight. Gen. al Akidi made the claim Thursday to Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language satellite TV channel.
Um Mahmoud said the situation was far too dire in Aleppo for the rebels to spare that many fighters. Then, in a reminder of the rivalries that have fractured the rebel movement, she questioned al Akidi’s standing, saying he had “only 20 troops under his command” and “can’t speak in the name of different” rebel groups, who she said oppose diverting resources to Kobani.
The rebel desperation was heightened by the government’s capture Thursday of the strategic town of Morak, on the highway that links Aleppo with Damascus. The town, in the northern part of Hama province, had been besieged by government forces for 10 months. Both rebels and the state-owned Syrian Arab News Agency reported that government forces had captured the town.R.
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Rebel strategists said the loss of Morak came after Syrian aircraft dropped more than 40 so-called “barrel bombs” on the town. Syrian infantry then captured a key hilltop and advanced into the city center.
With the town now in government hands, they said, pro-Assad forces are in a position to break the rebel siege of Wadi al Dief, the largest government military base in northern Syria.
Syrian Rebels Engage In Battle With The Syrian Army
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