Russia for all out 'total war' to capture Syria's Aleppo: Analysts
Shares
BEIRUT: (APP) Convinced that negotiations with Washington are now futile, Russia has decided to throw its military might behind the Syrian regime's drive to recapture Aleppo, analysts say.
After a short-lived truce collapsed, Russian warplanes have joined Syrian aerial and artillery bombardment of the rebel-held east of the city, pounding it with unprecedented ferocity.
"Russia has decided to go all out because it no longer believes in the possibility of collaborating with the United States in Syria," said Fabrice Balanche, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"It's total war, because Moscow doesn't believe that this country (US) is capable of doing anything in Syria, whether for lack of will or ability."
After intensive negotiations between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, a much-awaited ceasefire agreement went into effect in Syria on September 12.
But it fell apart within a week, with each side blaming the other for the latest failure in a conflict that has cost more than 300,000 lives since March 2011.
The deal called for the entry of humanitarian aid, particularly to besieged areas like opposition-held Aleppo, and for rebels to distance themselves from jihadists such as Fateh al-Sham Front, the former Al-Qaeda affiliate once known as Al-Nusra Front.
Neither commitment was achieved, and the ceasefire has given way to some of the most intense violence in rebel-held Aleppo since it was divided by fighting in mid-2012.
By backing government forces in Aleppo, Moscow seeks "to close that important pocket of rebels' resistance at last", said Igor Sutyagin, a Russia expert at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
