UN: Aleppo Will Be Gone If Russians Don’t Knock It Off

Staffan de Mistura, UN special envoy to Syria, believes that the entirety of rebel-held eastern Aleppo will be destroyed by Christmas if the Russian-backed bombing continues. In a sad, personal appeal, de Mistura called the scale of human tragedy “another Rwanda” and argued that Russia and the Syrian government’s insistence on targeting the city for its supposed 900 Islamist soldiers is just “an easy alibi.” He even offered to personally escort the Islamist fighters out of the city himself if it would just halt the bombing of the other 275,000 civilians. 

Syrian President Bashar al Assad tried to replicate that suggestion, offering amnesty to any rebels in Aleppo who disarm and surrender. The offer comes after two weeks of the heaviest bombardment of the nearly six-year war, Assad’s awful way of incentivizing. Still, rebels don’t believe him and have no intention of evacuating Aleppo. The White House agrees with the rebels that Assad’s offer is deception. “For them to suggest that somehow they’re now looking out for the interests of civilians is outrageous,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.