Originally Posted by
CrowBat
Hard to say. Can only guess they might want to finally bring some coordination into what are they doing, then currently, each is doing something entirely different:
- Russians, with wholehearted support from Assadists, are making themselves guilty of countless war crimes while burning down Aleppo, but
a) they are all the time either hitting hospitals or markets, or whatever else of civilian importance, 10-20km behind the frontlines (even inside eastern Aleppo city), or empty buildings (like schools), that with every new massacre they instigate it's getting ever clearer and clearer: they've got no clue where is JAN, where is JAF, where are any other armed opposition groups; and
b) they are bombing with weapons the effects of which can only make sense if there are ground troops there to exploit these; but because there are no such troops around, the entire exercise is nothing else but a big slaughter of civilians, and a military farce.
- Assadists required a week to push for 13km up the road from Ithriya in direction of Tabqa/Raqqa (and might have reached a point some 27km short of Tabqa AB), but that's a show mission with intention of grabbing a chair at the table where the future of Raqqa is going to be decided. Foremost, it's too little, too late, and I would be (pleasantly) surprised if they reach at least Tabqa.
- The IRGC is BS-itting around in southern Aleppo, and having one of its counterattacks smashed to pieces after the other.
That's three major, yet so utterly disconnected operations, that not even the Assadist air farce (yes, farce, no force) is capable of doing more but 'supporting' Russian-run massacres (and the VKS is, as described above, not even trying to provide any kind of support for IRGC troops, just for example).
This 'all for everything and everybody for himself' is making me extremely sceptic when trying to answer your second question: is the SDF going to swing around Manbij and attack Aleppo together with Assadists and the IRGC?
I wouldn't be the least surprised.
Sunni Arabs are everybody's enemy in this war.
Sunni Arabs that are self-governing themselves with help of various local councils - majority of which were meanwhile elected into their position in sort of rudimentary/primitive democratic elections - even more so.
Why is that so? Because they are clear, obvious, and undisputable evidence that all the Assadist, all the Putler's, and all the YPG's claims about 'they are all al-Qaida' are another big farce. Indeed, the biggest lie of this war.
