WorldNetDaily By J.M. Phelps
After a surprising insurgent offensive by rebels last week, Syria’s northern city of Aleppo was captured. The offensive marked the first attack on the city by opposition forces since 2016.
Having overtaken the central city of Hama Dec. 5, rebel forces are approximately 115 miles from Damascus, which is a serious concern to President Bashar al-Assad. Reversing an earlier claim denying that rebels had entered the city, the Syrian army says it is redeploying its forces “to preserve civilian lives and prevent urban combat.” Assad may soon be forced to confront a serious threat to Syria’s capitol of Damascus.
WorldNetDaily spoke to Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst at the Capital Research Center who has focused on Syria and the Middle East for over 20 years. Describing the Middle Eastern country as “a mosh pit of jihadi groups,” he says distinguishing between the ruling regime and the rebels is a near-impossibility.
“There are so many different factions on each side that are fighting an external enemy, while at the same time, they are fighting with each other,” he explained.
For this reason, Mauro considers it hard to speak in generalizations, but does say flatly that “the rebels that are taking territory in Syria are jihadists.” At the same time, he pointed out that the Assad regime is essentially part of an Islamist Iranian regime. Considering this, he said, “you’re basically trading one jihadi for the next.”
From the perspective of the West and Israel, Mauro questions whether it is better to have “a stable and arguably less fanatical enemy” to the north â that is, if Assad were to prevail and reclaim land â or rebels and other terrorist organizations who will be consumed with fighting each other.
“There are pluses and minuses to each scenario,” he concedes…
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