What happened so outrageously in Homs two months ago, is now taking place in Aleppo. Syrian artillery and jets have begun a campaign of bombardment designed to reduce 13 suburbs in the country's commercial capital to rubble. Only then, when hundreds of civilians have been massacred and rebel fighters killed or forced to flee, will the Assad regime risk sending in its troops and the repugnant Shabiha militiamen, to complete the blood-letting. The military logic is undeniable. The rebels cannot mount any counter-bombardment. They have very limited ground-to-air defenses. They are still largely armed only with personal weapons and the fury and determination of a repressed people, set on escaping 50 years of tyranny under the Assad family's Baath Party. Nor should we forget that this bombardment from a safe distance is a tactic that the regime has used before, with horrific consequences. In 1982, the Muslim Brotherhood led a rebellion in the city of Hama. Troops surrounded and cut off the place and then proceeded to shell and strafe and bomb it for days, destroying it almost entirely. No accurate figure for the death toll has every been compiled. However, it is estimated that up to 40,000 people died, from explosions, untreated injuries, starvation and disease or finally, from a bullet in the back of the head, when the regime's troops and militias finally decided that it was safe enough for them to move in. There were also unconfirmed reports that cyanide gas was used against the insurgents. The difference between Aleppo today and Hama 30 years ago is that the 13 districts of Aleppo currently being targeted, including Bustan Al-Qasr and Merjeh and Hananu, are not so easily surrounded. The rebels have demonstrated their ability to bring weapons and supplies in to their fighters, and also to evacuate their seriously wounded, while treating those with light injuries in hidden field hospitals. Aleppo is therefore not like Hama, in that it cannot so quickly be isolated. However, as in Homs, rebel districts can be devastated by impersonal blanket bombardment, in which the majority of the dead and wounded will be luckless civilians, who have been unable or are unwilling to flee their homes and businesses. Just as importantly, this is a crime against humanity that is not going unreported. Members of the world's media are risking their lives, alongside the rebel fighters, to cover the despicable actions of the regime's butchers. Moreover, mobile phone cameras and the internet, which were undreamt of 30 years ago, are allowing ordinary Syrians to film and send out pictures of the Assad government's savagery. Against such resources the regime's propaganda cannot win. Perhaps just as significantly, Syrians who continue to support the regime, for fear of what will come after Assad is overthrown, will also view these disgusting and indefensible images. If they have a grain of decency, they will be asking themselves if this is really a government to which they should continue to give their grudging allegiance. In short, with every new shell that his troops fire onto defenseless Aleppo, Assad is also destroying his support base.
