The attack on Mosul has continued, and news about it and Aleppo has been flying out like crazy, even sometimes shoving aside new articles about the quickly approaching presidential election. I’ve been trying to ignore a lot of it, because I’d like to cover other things besides the Syrian Civil War. But in the interest of keeping you guys updated, here’s what’s been dominating headlines recently about the Syrian war:
An airstrike was carried out on a rebel-held village in Syria, and a few bombs hit a school, killing 22 children. Pictures that have come out from the shelling have been striking and gruesome. Here’s one of the more powerful ones:
Likely because of this incident and other horrifying airstrikes on civilians, Russia has lost its seat on the UN Human Rights Council.
Rebels trapped in Aleppo started a counter-offensive to open currently embargoed routes in the city. The Syrian government has taken a siege strategy of starving the city out, and the offensive sought to provide a path for supplies and troops to reinforce the city. It seems to have failed, however.
According to DoD press releases, ISIS has lost hundreds of fighters as Kurdish and Iraqi troops have approached the city. General Joseph Votel estimated that 800-900 ISIS troops have been killed in the last week. According to some estimates, there are only 5,000 Islamic State troops embedded within the city, and if that’s the case, one fifth of them have died already.
Finally, ISIS has been committing various atrocities and horrible murders in Mosul. Children and women were murdered after falling behind while being forced to walk from one village to another. Fifteen people were found dead in a river in an attempt ‘to spread terror’. 232 people, including 40 civilians and many Iraqi troops, were executed near Mosul. And of course, there have been reports of human shields proliferating everywhere.
The Middle East Scroll 