August 8, 2012

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appeared on state television yesterday for the first time in weeks to greet Iran’s security chief, Saeed Jalili.  Jalili assured Assad that Syria is part of a vital regional alliance–an “axis of resistance”–that Iran will not allow to be broken. Assad, in turn, affirmed  his determination “to cleanse the country from the terrorists and fight against terrorism unreservedly.”

The government of Iran is currently trying to secure the release of 48 Iranians abducted by Free Syrian Army rebels from a bus in Damascus on August 4. The Free Syrian Army claims the men are members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The government of Iran maintains that they are pilgrims who had been heading t a Shi’ite Muslim religious site.

Iran is Syria's only ally in the Middle East. (World Book map)

In a major blow to Assad, Syria’s prime minister, Riad Hijab, defected on August 6 and fled to Jordan. Hijab is the highest-profile defector from the Assad regime since the uprising began in March 2011.

In Aleppo, residents continue to flee the embattled city by the tens of thousands as government fighter jets accelerate bombing raids in an attempt to drive rebels from neighborhood strongholds. United Nations monitors pulled out yesterday “due to deterioration in the security situation.” Talal Atrissi, a Lebanese political analyst, noted, “The regime is ready to destroy all of Aleppo. The regime will never allow the fall of Aleppo because it would start a countdown to their demise.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Arab Spring
• Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a Special Report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)

July 26, 2012

The Syrian government continues to muster soldiers outside the strategic city of Aleppo, and a large convoy of tanks and military vehicles carrying soldiers waits on the southern outskirts of the city. Rebel forces are also pouring into Aleppo from surrounding areas in anticipation of the battle to come.

“People know there is going to be chaos, fighting, shelling, so people are frightened,” an activist in Aleppo told a foreign correspondent by cell phone. “They have stocked up on canned goods and are not venturing out.” Public transportation has been shut down, and hospitals are appealing for blood donations, he reported. People are fleeing the neighborhoods where rebels have established a toehold, under the assumption that they will be pounded by government artillery.

People shop for vegetables at an outdoor market in Aleppo, one of Syria’s largest cities. Aleppo, in northwestern Syria, is an important agricultural, industrial, and education center. (© Tibor Bognar, Corbis Stock Market)

Aleppo–Syria’s largest city and commercial capital–is key to the battle to control the north of the country. Strategists note that it is almost inconceivable that President Bashar al-Assad would allow his government to lose control of Aleppo, and it is likely that he will throw everything he has into the battle to hold the city.

The rebellion against the Assad regime began in March 2011. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that the death toll from the uprising now exceeds 19,000.

Additional World Book articles:

• Arab Spring
• Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)