The Washington Times: U.S. and British defense chiefs said Thursday that they are sticking by their demand that President Bashar Assad must go as part of any settlement of Syria’s bloody civil war, just days after Mr. Assad’s forces scored one of their biggest victories over rebels in Aleppo.
An increasingly confident Mr. Assad on Wednesday praised Russian-backed government forces for the successful “liberation” of Aleppo — once the country’s largest cities and a major trading and economic hub. Until this week, it was a major stronghold for rebel forces fighting to overthrow the regime for the past five years.
In one interview, Mr. Assad even compared the ramifications of the battle for Aleppo to the birth of Christ and the revelation of the Quran.
Mr. Carter noted that the Syrian regime’s campaign to break the rebels’ backs in Aleppo “reflects an incredible brutality on the part of the regime and also their backers, including Russia.”
Regional observers and human rights advocates blame Russia’s devastating bombing campaign of rebel and civilian targets in eastern Aleppo as the turning point in the battle over the long-divided city.
