If you pay attention to the Syrian Civil War, you know that secretary of state John Kerry proudly announced another of those great international "agreements" that the Obama administration periodically touts. This time Kerry and his Russian counterpart announced a cease fire in Syria for all military operations except those against ISIS and the al Nusra front (the local version of al Qaeda.) Kerry made clear in the announcement that one of the main reasons for the pact was to enable relief supplies to get to the suffering millions in many parts of Syria. The worst of those areas is the city of Aleppo. It was the largest city in the nation prior to the war with roughly 3 million people in the metro area. Many have left, but there are still hundreds of thousands stranded in rebel held areas. These people have been without food supplies or even clean water for many months. Their medical facilities have no supplies. And they have been under constant attack. Getting relief supplies to these civilians caught in the cross fire could save literally hundreds of thousands of lives.
So how has it worked out? There are two correct answers: 1. as expected; and 2. very poorly. After a week of the supposed cease fire no relief supplies have made their way into Aleppo. Now let's be very clear; there are plenty of supplies to help those in need in Aleppo. The problem is that the government forces are not cooperating to let the relief agencies get the needed supplies to those in the city. The "agreement" worked out by Kerry contained clear language that calls for the Assad forces to pull back from the main road into the besieged area so that relief could be brought in. That road is still not open and people continue to die of starvation and disease in Aleppo. Meanwhile, the Assad/Iranian/Hezbollah forces have used the cease fire to rearm and resupply their fighters. The plan of the Assad forces and their main backers Iran and Russia seems to have been to proclaim a cease fire, to use it for resupply only of their own forces and then to resume the fight with a big advantage.
I should say at this point that it is hard to understand how Obama and Kerry could have agreed to such a deal. Sadly, it's not hard to understand, but easy. These are people for whom it is more important to announce that a deal has been reached than to make sure that the deal itself is a good one. This is only the latest time that the Russians and Putin have out negotiated the USA and Obama. Thankfully, Obama's term is ending.
So how has it worked out? There are two correct answers: 1. as expected; and 2. very poorly. After a week of the supposed cease fire no relief supplies have made their way into Aleppo. Now let's be very clear; there are plenty of supplies to help those in need in Aleppo. The problem is that the government forces are not cooperating to let the relief agencies get the needed supplies to those in the city. The "agreement" worked out by Kerry contained clear language that calls for the Assad forces to pull back from the main road into the besieged area so that relief could be brought in. That road is still not open and people continue to die of starvation and disease in Aleppo. Meanwhile, the Assad/Iranian/Hezbollah forces have used the cease fire to rearm and resupply their fighters. The plan of the Assad forces and their main backers Iran and Russia seems to have been to proclaim a cease fire, to use it for resupply only of their own forces and then to resume the fight with a big advantage.
I should say at this point that it is hard to understand how Obama and Kerry could have agreed to such a deal. Sadly, it's not hard to understand, but easy. These are people for whom it is more important to announce that a deal has been reached than to make sure that the deal itself is a good one. This is only the latest time that the Russians and Putin have out negotiated the USA and Obama. Thankfully, Obama's term is ending.
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