Russia Aims to Liberate Aleppo Entirely by Yearend

Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military’s General Staff speaks, in front of a map of the Aleppo area in Syria, at a briefing at the Russian Defense Ministry’s headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

“We are hoping for this. Yes, indeed,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. We need to force these (US-backed) terrorists out the same way as they need to be forced out of Mosul and Raqqa. It’s a common task.”

Eastern Aleppo is being liberated one neighborhood at a time, thousands of trapped residents held as human hostages already freed, numbers growing daily – hundreds of US-backed terrorists surrendering or retreating.

In the last 72 hours, Syrian and allied forces routed terrorists in 16 districts, capturing northern  parts of eastern Aleppo. According to a Syrian military source, government and allied troops began an offensive to liberate southern portions of the city.

They control over half of eastern Aleppo territory, US-supported terrorists clearly on the back foot, losing to government and allied forces decisively.

Syrian terrorist leaders are in talks with Russian representatives to end fighting in Aleppo, Turkey brokering them in Ankara.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova isn’t denying them, saying “Washington isolated itself. We’ve been negotiating with opposition (elements) in Turkey for years. It’s not news.”

Moscow is adamant in demanding all terrorists cease fighting and leave eastern Aleppo – or they’ll be forcibly driven out.

So far, they’re unwilling to relinquish remaining parts of the city they hold. Liberating it and surrounding areas is key to defeating Washington’s regime change scheme.

Fighting will likely continue until they’re routed from all parts of the city, achievable possibly within weeks – why Washington is desperate to halt fighting. Russia and Syria aren’t buying it.

Separately, on December 1, the General Assembly adopted a resolution it overwhelmingly approved numerous times before,  demanding Israel withdraw from Syrian Golan – restoring pre-June 1967 borders.

General Assembly members condemned Israel’s failure to observe Security Council Resolution 497 (1981), declaring its occupation “null and void and without international legal effect.”

Golan remains illegally occupied for nearly half a century, officially recognized as sovereign Syrian territory.