Aleppo prison relieved by Syrian forces.

"Television pictures from inside the prison complex showed dozens of bearded and weary soldiers, who had held out against 13 months of rebel siege, standing behind grey sandbags and celebrating the arrival of the relief troops.

They also showed prisoners, men and women, behind bars in long rows of cells.

Rebels, including fighters from Al Qaeda’s Jabhat Al Nusra, have tried repeatedly to storm the prison, breaching its outer walls with huge bombs but failing to take full control.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said 3,000 inmates were held at the Aleppo jail, including Islamists and other political prisoners as well as common criminals.

It said the air force continued to bombard rebels near the prison with barrel bombs on Thursday, a third day of heavy fighting after they launched an offensive on Tuesday to push back the insurgents."  The National

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This prison is just outside Aleppo.  It had been besieged by jihadi fighters for two years.  This is yet another indication of the decline in rebel/jihadi forces.  Yes, I know, that is the badge of the military sports authority.  pl

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/assad-forces-break-aleppo-prison-siege-find-weary-soldiers-prisoners#ixzz32dli33rz 
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Comments

[Bandolero]

The main thing with that development is that the Syrian army is now positioned to completely cut off all insurgents' supply lines to Aleppo.

See Martin Chulov:

Battle for Aleppo could prove final reckoning in Syria's war

Pro-Assad forces are poised to cut off rebel supply lines and end nearly two years of insurrection in the ruined city

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/24/aleppo-battle-final-reckoning-syria-war

Martin Chulov gets in his article some points wrong, but in one major point he is right - if the Syrian Army decides so, they can cut insurgent supply lines now. See a map:

https://twitter.com/Nutsflipped_z_1/status/469737640611180545/photo/1/large

Going from the prison southwest towards the northeast of Aleppo, the Syrian army would have almost all blank territory to go through, no densely populated urban territory.

Though, I don't know, whether the Syrian army wants to do it at all. Maybe the army prefers to leave a small corridor open for insurgents, and position on the sidelines of the corridor to target insurgent movements in such a narrow transit corridor. From my point of view, such a situation might be more preferable in many ways for the Syrian army than a complete encirclement and siege.

[turcopolier]

Bandolero

it has long been debated in US military circles if it was a good idea to leave the Germans a corridor through which to try to escape from the Falaise Pocket. Opinion is mixed. pl

[Tyler]

The Assaulted Alawites of the Allotment at Aleppo.

Doesn't quite roll off the tongue like "battered bastards of..." but you get the picture.

[Brad Ruble]

My father and I talked about something like this a few years before he died.
He was drafted in '41. Went to England in August of '42 and North Africa in January of '43. He was in a tank battalion. His unit went into Italy in October of '43.
He said his war was a couple of hundred yards in every direction and nobody above Captain ever gave a shit what he thought. He also said you never wanted to corner the Krauts on the second floor.
They'd fight as much as their honor demanded and if you had them beat they'd pull out. But if you ever cornered them they would fight you to the death.
Enjoy your weekend, the weather is beautiful out here in Wyoming

[Alba Etie]

Tyler
"Like the battered bastards of Bastogne "
I wonder if there is an Arabic equivalent to "Nuts"..

[turcopolier]

AE

"Nuts"in Arabic? No idea, usually a hearty Allahu Akbar suffices on all sides. Bastogne? Well, the 6th SS Panzer Army shot a lot of US Army prisoners at Malmedy, but at Bastogne the enemy was the 5th Panzer Army, quite a different outfit. In Syria, surrender to the jihadis means death. i don't think it would have meant that at Bastogne. pl

[Alba Etie]

Col Lang
Thank you for the historical correction.

[Tyler]

On second thought, replace Allotment with Alamut. Culturally fitting in some regards.

[William Fitzgerald]

Brad Ruble,

Was it the 755th Tank Battalion?

WPFIII

[FkDahl]

Colonel
This is contrary to what I was taught: “They also trained us on how to attack a vehicle, raid it, retrieve information or weapons and munitions, and how to finish off soldiers still alive after an ambush.”
Training for Syrian rebels performed by US contractors.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/foreign-affairs-defense/syria-arming-the-rebels/syrian-rebels-describe-u-s-backed-training-in-qatar/

FkDahl

[turcopolier]

FKDahl

You mean you were taught that guerrilla irregulars would not kill wounded enemies? That's reassuring. Where was that? Interestingly, there is a specific verb in Arabic that means "to finish off the wounded." Look it up in Wehr ot al-Mawrid.. pl

[FkDahl]

Colonel, all I learned was how to defend my potato patch...
But from a Geneva convention perspective are former - or current - US or European soldiers in breach of it by training irregular forces to execute wounded?
In this situation they are not in the chain of command - which probably gives me the answer.
FkDahl

[turcopolier]

FkDahl

I decided to answer your question seriously. 1- I don't know if the RT story is true. 2- I am opposed to training Syrian rebels. they are likely to prove to be enemies of the US. 3- Yes, I think it would be a crime in international law to train guerrillas to shoot enemy wounded. pl

[turcopolier]

FkDahl

The verb is "jahaza 'ala." (To finish off a wounded man) We did not teach the Arabs that. pl