The
Syrian people are suffering under the ‘moderate rebels’ and
‘opposition forces’ backed by the US, NATO member states and
their allies in the Gulf states and Israel. Yet their suffering is
largely ignored in the mainstream media unless it furthers the agenda
dictated by the State Department.
This
article is the first in a two-part series of one Western journalist’s
journey to Aleppo, a city ravaged by an insurgency supported by the
United States, NATO member states, and their allies in the Gulf
states and Israel. In Part I, Vanessa Beeley lays out the mainstream
narrative on Syria, revealing a neoconservative agenda promoted by
NATO-funded NGOs. These NGOs paint the destruction of the historic
city as being caused by the Syrian government under Bashar Assad, not
the violent armed insurgents which receive arms, funding and training
from Western governments and their allies.
Aleppo
has become synonymous with destruction and “Syrian state-generated”
violence among those whose perception of the situation in the
war-torn nation is contained within the prism of mainstream media
narratives.
The
NATO-aligned media maintains a tight grip on information coming out
of this beleaguered city, ensuring that whatever comes out is
tailored to meet State Department requirements and advocacy for
regime change. The propaganda mill churns out familiar tales of
chemical weapons, siege, starvation and bombs targeting civilians–all
of which are attributed to the Syrian government and military, with
little variation on this theme.
The
purpose of this photo essay and my journey to Aleppo on Aug. 14 was
to discover for myself as a Western journalist the truth behind the
major storylines in the U.S. and NATO narrative on Syria.
Entering
Aleppo
We entered
Aleppo via Sheikh Maqsoud, a Kurdish-held neighborhood that has been
severely attacked by the terrorist gangs surrounding it, including
the 16th Division of the Free Syrian Army and the Nusra Front. The
decimation of the neighborhood was as shocking as it is in every
other town, village, or city that has been pounded by NATO-backed
terrorists’ hell cannon mortar fire and a variety of rockets,
explosive bullets and missiles fired from launchers ranging from
rudimentary, improvised devices to the more sophisticated
U.S.-supplied equipment.
Yet the
weapons–missiles, gas canisters, water heaters, and any other
container at hand which is packed full of lethal explosives and
limb-shredding materials–are rarely highlighted or even mentioned
in the mainstream media. The unnamed Syrian whose account I published
on my blog, also reported:
“The
terrorists are using mortars, explosive bullets, cooking-gas
cylinders bombs and water-warming long cylinders bombs, filled up
with explosives and shrapnel and nails, in what they call ‘Hell
Canon’. (google these weapons or see their YouTube clips. The
cooking-gas cylinder is made of steel, and it weighs around 25 kg.
Imagine it thrown by a cannon to hit civilians? And imagine knowing
that it’s full with explosives?”
Dr. Mohammed
Jassim, a volunteer medic, told RT recently:
“February
and April of 2016 was the worst period for Sheikh Maqsood we got
thousands of attacks, so many different kinds of shelling, and
according to my statistics we had almost 800 dead and injured
civilians, and the neighbourhood was largely destroyed.”
On April 20,
U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for Operation Inherent
Resolve, the U.S. campaign against Daesh in Iraq and Syria, updated
reporters at the Pentagon via video feed from his station in Baghdad.
He admitted that, at the time, “It’s primarily al-Nusra who
holds Aleppo.”
The
atmosphere was tense as we entered Sheikh Maqsoud. The Kurds are in
control of this region but we were told not to take photos near the
checkpoints manned by Kurdish forces.
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