Hope returns to eastern Aleppo – which Assad forces all but extinguished

Published

2 months ago

December 21, 2024

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Syrian and Russian forces unleashed all they could on eastern Aleppo. For four years they battled to bring Syria’s second city under Bashar al Assad’s full control.

By December 2016 when the regime finally ceased fire after a devastating siege and bombardment, civilian life there was all but extinguished.

Dr Obeid Diab wants to show us what it looks like when a barrel bomb hits.

We bump into him on the street, coming, as he often does, to check on what’s left of his apartment.

At 84 years old and smartly dressed in a long, dark overcoat, he cuts an incongruous figure against the desolate, ruined shards of destroyed buildings and the cascades of rubble.

“A barrel bomb fell here,” he says, gesturing to the wasteland. “We weren’t here thank god. We were out visiting friends.”

‘We buried children with our bare hands’

Barrel bombs are pretty much what they sound like – barrel-shaped cylinders filled with explosives, shrapnel, chemicals, whatever is to hand, dropped from a plane or helicopter.

The regime would improvise. Indiscriminate damage, minimum cost. Assad denied their use, but it was ubiquitous in Syria.

This one killed Dr Diab’s nine-year-old niece. He said he had to bury her and other children in the neighbourhood with his bare hands.

“They would hit indiscriminately. The jets would fly over and the bombs would drop. Whether or not the wind blows it here or there, you don’t know. Is there a specific target in mind? No, I don’t think so. They just hit and go.”

The horrors didn’t end when the bombardment stopped, though he stopped working as a paediatrician for fear the regime would come after doctors who had been working in the east.

They came for him anyway, because he refused to act as an informer, he says. He was imprisoned for 50 days, a man in his 80s, then kept under house arrest.

“The prison was so dirty and so crowded. We would have to sleep on our sides, stacked up next to one another in a tiny room. And the lice and the scabies… I can’t even begin to describe it,” he says.

“I remember once seeing a friend and saying I wanted to be in the same room as him. And the officer says, ‘you want to be in the same room as him? He’s going to be locked up forever. Is that what you want?’ Detainees were just numbers to them.”

We climb the stairs towards what’s left of his apartment, past sacks of chickpeas and boxes of rice from the World Food Programme gathering dust. A pair of slippers are placed neatly beside a large carpet with UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) written on it.

The rest is faded elegance, a hint of old Aleppo. Dr Diab has been trying to repair what he can in the back room which was most heavily damaged.

Sometimes he still sleeps in his bed though the flat is too dangerous to live in full-time. “Who in their right mind would leave their home behind?” he says.

Fears of ISIS – but hope HTS will bring stability

Everyone we meet has a story, each as horrifying as the last. Ali on the street outside is wearing a woollen beret knitted in the colours of the revolutionary flag.

He is younger, of fighting age. He looks haunted, as do the gaggle of children around him who’ve been playing in the rubble. He is their uncle.

He says he stayed in his home on that street in eastern Aleppo all the way through the siege in 2016 and for as long as he could after that, when regime militias were in control of the area.

“We didn’t dare even walk down that road. If we did, they’d rob us, they’d take our belongings. They’d stop you, take your money and accuse you of being armed.”

He was then jailed for three years, first at the air force intelligence base in Aleppo and then with military intelligence in Damascus. When he was released they made him serve in the army. Now he is finally home.

I ask him if he thinks the fighting will stop and if he fears a resurgence of Islamic State (IS), which the US says is gathering itself for a resurgence in Syria’s north east.

“We really hope that more stability comes and that Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) has authority over all of Syria, especially over those guys. We don’t want more problems.”

Bombed-out streets bustling again

The commerce that made Aleppo one of the world’s great historic trading cities is trickling back to the east.

Major roads are as lively and chaotic as they are in western Aleppo, bustling with traffic and stalls and people hawking all manner of goods.

But look up and the shopkeepers have wedged their awnings and their shawarma grills into broken, bombed-out buildings. Rubble and rubbish line the streets. For some reason, the beggars we see are all women.

This war claimed women and children too, but it was predominantly men who fought across the myriad of factions or who were lost to the regime’s dungeons. Perhaps that is why.

Noah, who runs a perfume shop, says business has been slow since HTS took over.

The exchange rate has seen massive fluctuations. People have been focusing on basic needs, on food and water.

The Kurdish districts in northern Aleppo are still dangerous, sniper fire from Kurdish militia who feel themselves surrounded and besieged has killed around 100 people over the past two weeks.

“It’s not super stable, people are still quite worried especially when it’s dark at night,” Noah says. “People go home as soon as the sun sets.”

But there is hope. Outside Aleppo’s historic citadel, where HTS posed two weeks ago when they took the city before marching south on the capital, children wave the revolutionary flag and marvel at a camel and pony brought out for the tourists.

Aleppo has witnessed brutal chapters before through its long history. Hopefully the next will be less sadistic than the last.

“We were living in a grave before. It was like a rebirth.” Dr Diab told me. “Now we can smell the fresh air. It’s an indescribable feeling.”

World

Ukraine war: Donald Trump says peace negotiations with Russia to start ‘immediately’

Published

5 hours ago

February 12, 2025

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Ukraine war: Donald Trump says peace negotiations with Russia to start 'immediately'

Donald Trump says there has been agreement to begin negotiations about ending the war in Ukraine, after holding phone calls with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It is the US president’s first big step towards diplomacy over a conflict which he promised to end within 24 hours of being inaugurated.

“We both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Mr Trump posted on Truth Social following discussions with Russia’s president.

He said the pair would “work together, very closely” towards winding down the conflict and “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately”.

A Kremlin spokesperson said Mr Putin and Mr Trump had agreed to meet, with the Russian president inviting the US leader to visit Moscow.

Ukraine latest: Trump’s plan to end war

“President Putin, for his part, mentioned the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement can be achieved through peaceful negotiations,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president wrote on X that he had a “meaningful conversation” by phone with Mr Trump to discuss “opportunities to achieve peace” and the preparation of a document governing security and economic cooperation.

“No one wants peace more than Ukraine. Together with the US, we are charting our next steps to stop Russian aggression and ensure a lasting, reliable peace,” he said.

Mr Trump added that his phone conversation with Mr Zelenskyy “went very well”, suggesting that “he [Mr Zelenskyy], like President Putin, wants to make PEACE”.

On social media, the US president said: “It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION. God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!”

Trump’s bombshell phone call

Dominic Waghorn

International affairs editor

@DominicWaghorn

Trump’s bombshell phone call leaves questions unanswered.

He says there have been NATO efforts all day to stop the damage to unity done by defence secretary Pete Hegseth, who said it’s unrealistic that Ukraine will get all of its land back in a peace deal or join NATO.

That impression of unity is crumbling.

Trump’s call with Putin is a break from three years of firm determination by NATO members to be united behind the principle of not talking about Ukraine without Ukraine.

The president’s announcement that Russian and US teams will start negotiations does not make clear whether they are bilateral talks or involve Kyiv.

Donald Trump seems to have made commitments in that phone call with Putin that the Russians expect him to hold himself to – what are those commitments?

On Wednesday, the US defence secretary delivered a blunt statement on the new US administration’s approach to the nearly three-year-old war.

Speaking at a NATO meeting in Brussels, Pete Hegseth said a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and the US did not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of a solution to the war.

“Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering,” he said.

Separately the US and Russia agreed to a prisoner swap. America freed a Russian cybercrime boss in return for Moscow’s release of schoolteacher Marc Fogel, a US official said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile at a White House news conference on Wednesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she was “not aware of” Mr Trump putting any preconditions on his meeting with Mr Putin.

Mr Trump said the peace negotiations will be led by secretary of state Marco Rubio, director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, national security advisor Michael Waltz, and ambassador Steve Witkoff.

World

US defence secretary signals dramatic shift in American military policy away from Europe, warning allies about ‘stark strategic realities’

Published

11 hours ago

February 12, 2025

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US defence secretary signals dramatic shift in American military policy away from Europe, warning allies about 'stark strategic realities'

US troops will not be used to secure the peace in Ukraine following any ceasefire deal with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump’s new defence secretary has declared, as he signalled a dramatic shift in American foreign and defence policy away from Europe.

Pete Hegseth also said it is “unrealistic” to think Ukraine can return to its pre-2014 borders and he ruled out NATO membership as way to guarantee Kyiv’s security.

This will be a huge blow for Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The interventions came at the opening of a meeting of allies in Brussels on Wednesday.

Follow live: Ukraine war latest

Mr Hegseth said Washington must focus on the threat posed by China and securing its own borders.

He added: “Stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe.

“As the United States shifts its attention to these threats, European allies must lead from the front,” Mr Hegseth said in opening remarks at the gathering of NATO and non-NATO countries that are providing military support to Ukraine.

NATO spending

Mr Trump – a long-time critic of the alliance, which he sees as containing freeloaders that benefit from American military strength without investing in their own security – has said all NATO allies should increase defence spending to 5% of GDP.

This is more than double the current target. The UK is only spending 2.3%.

While still supportive of NATO, Mr Hegseth warned that America’s patience was limited.

“Our transatlantic alliance has endured for decades. And we fully expect it will sustained for generations more. But this won’t just happen,” he said.

He continued: “It will require our European allies to step into the arena and take ownership of conventional security on this continent.

“The United States remains committed to the NATO alliance and to the defence partnership with Europe.

“Our relationship will prioritise empowering Europe to own responsibility for its security.”

Ukraine-Russia war

Mr Hegseth also had strong words about Russia’s war in Ukraine, which he said “must end”.

Speaking frankly, he dismissed a fundamental Ukrainian goal to recapture all its territory – including Crimea and swathes of the Donbas that were seized by Russia in 2014 when Mr Putin first invaded his neighbour. This aim had previously been backed by the UK and other allies.

“We want… a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” he said.

“Chasing this illusory goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”

The US defence secretary said that a durable peace must include robust security guarantees to ensure that the war won’t begin again – but he made clear that the US would not be part of that effort on the ground and it could not be a NATO operation.

It was not immediately clear, however, whether the US military may help to provide protection from a distance.

“These security guarantees should not be provided through NATO membership, but must instead be backed by capable European and non-European troops,” the US defence secretary said.

“If these troops are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission and not covered under Article 5. There also must be robust international oversight of the line of contact.”

Article 5 of NATO says an armed attack on one member is considered an attack on all.

Read more: What is Article 5?

Mr Hegseth continued: “To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be US troops deployed to Ukraine.”

His words will be a significant setback for Kyiv.

President Zelenskyy told Sky News last week that any peacekeeping force that did not include a US element would be a “major mistake”, signalling that he did not believe European militaries alone could deter Moscow.

The retreat of the US from its leadership role in Ukraine was clear in the choreography of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting – an alignment of allies gathered together by Washington under Joe Biden and his defence secretary Loyd Austin after Russia launched its full-scale invasion almost exactly three years ago.

Future of European security

The regular meetings have until now always been chaired by the US.

Wednesday’s meeting, however, was led by John Healey, the UK defence secretary.

Mr Hegseth made clear that European allies would need to step up and take on much more of the effort to provide Ukraine with weapons and non-military support.

“Safeguarding European security is an imperative for European members of NATO. As part of this, Europe must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine,” he said.

This means donating more ammunition, expanding Europe’s defence industrial base and rallying the public to be willing to respond to the threat the continent faces.

“Part of this is speaking frankly with your people about how this threat can only be met by spending more on defence and investing strategically,” Mr Hegseth said.

“Increasing your commitment to your own security is a down payment for the future.”

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said he agreed with US president Donald Trump on the need for Washington and European allies to share the burden of military aid for Ukraine more equally.