After waves of worst airstrikes that Aleppo has ever seen took place last Friday, the Syrian government and its Russian allies seem to have a new strategy to subdue rebels, generally by crushing the civilian populations that support them. They want to make life intolerable for them and death likely. They also intend to open an escape route, or offer a deal to those who leave or surrender. This way they want to let people trickle out, kill whoever stays and repeat the same recipe until a deserted cityscape is in their hands.
A takeover battle could mean "a slow, grinding, street-by-street fight, over the course of months, if not years," the United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said on Sunday at an emergency Security Council session on Syria, which was held in order to find diplomatic common ground.
East Aleppo would definitely be the biggest and most protected (by rebels) area that government forces had wanted to retake with scorched-earth tactics of siege and airstrikes called "starve-or-submit," after slogans scrawled outside besieged areas by pro-government militiamen.
During devastating airstrikes, they also hit one by one the systems that have kept life inching along. Rescue workers in Aleppo reported that their cars and headquarters were among the first targets hit on Friday. Now, when people are buried in rubble, no one can or it takes longer for them to arrive.
Next, a much deadlier weapon than before was introduced — the so-called "bunker-buster" or heavy-duty ground-penetrating bomb. These bombs turn whole buildings into craters yards deep and also threaten basement shelters and water pipes, not to mention the schools, clinics and even playgrounds built underground over the years to help minimize the damage of airstrikes.
As medical workers, rescuers and residents trying to navigate the chaos, every now and then, they receive a message from the government that offers help. The texts say that Russia is providing aid to people in the government-held side of the city and is available to anybody who returns to the rib cage of the state.
Russia says it has opened safe corridors, and Syrian state television has reported that people have fled through them. On the other hand, there are other residents saying they have tried to approach the corridors, only to be shot at.
Each side blames the other for trapping people there.
