"More than a month into the battle for Aleppo, the rebels who seized control of much of the city sense that its residents do not yet fully support them. Opposition fighters – around 3,000 of them – are almost the only people moving around the eastern half that the Free Syrian Army now controls. The small numbers of non-fighters who remain seem to pay them little heed. Few seem openly welcoming.
"Yes it's true," said Sheikh Tawfik Abu Sleiman, a rebel commander sitting on the ground floor of his fourth new headquarters – the other three were bombed. "Around 70% of Aleppo city is with the regime. It has always been that way. The countryside is with us and the city is with them. We are saying that we will only be here as long as it takes to get the job done, to get rid of the Assads. After that, we will leave and they can build the city that they want."" The Guardian
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Well. Well. CNN has not noticed this but The Guardian has. The truth of this matter is that the rebels are far too exrteme in their religious enthusiasm for the relatively sophisticated and cosmopolitan people of Aleppo.
Why is the battle in Aleppo taking so long? As I wrote here before, the government wishes to avoid destroying this important metropolitan area with its population sympathetic to the government and its economic base.
The simple truth is that Aleppo awaits its liberators and they are not the rebels. The American people are being lied to yet again by the media. But then, they and their AIPAC friends know better. pl
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/21/syrian-rebels-aleppo-local-hostility?newsfeed=true
