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The Syrian army has established a new check point at the Castello Highway heading to the Syrian city of Aleppo. The check point is set for the passage of militants that are ready to surrender.
On July 27, the Syrian government issued a decree that provide a general pardon to any militant who surrenders.
On July 28, Syria and Russia launched a joint humanitarian operation for Aleppo residents. They will provide a humanitarian aid for the citizens and open three humanitarian corridors for locals who want to leave Aleppo.
I don’t really understand why there is an ‘amnesty’ for militants who surrender. Can someone explain. It seems to me that such militants might then be free to move to other places and join other groups and continue fighting. This does not seem very sensible. Equally important are the cases of all the atrocities that have been done. Are these just to be forgotten and treated as though they never happened? Many captured Syrian soldiers were beheaded. No amnesty for them, just brutal death. Are such things to be forgotten and these war crimes treated as unimportant?
May be someone at Southfront can comment.
I guess they don’t want to have a lot of urban battles in the East part of the city so the ‘West’ can blame the SAA for massacres whilst they ignore the war crimes committed by the ‘moderate’ beheaders and such. In the end it could be more of a publicty stunt, or the militants get their asses bombed as soon as they get in the open, much like what happened in the Ukraine when the UA army retreated from a village.
They made an agreement with rebel commanders however, the rebels forces had set up an artillery ambush aimed at the UA way of retreat. The result was a carnage with a huge column of vehicles and men destroyed.
If you allow yourself to be blocked from doing what is necessary and right by fear of how “the West” (actually nothing more than a handful of criminal government leaders and their press propagandists) will blame you, then you have already lost. This is a LOSER strategy.
“To a surrounded enemy, you must leave a way of escape” Sun Tzu, Art of War.
There is a reasoning behind this that is not apparent at first, and that is: an army that is surrounded will fight to the death because they have nothing to lose… This will result in a long drawn out fight that will also tire the army applying the siege.
Giving a combatant a means to escape does not necessarily mean that they will come back. In fact they are more likely to see that it is a hopeless cause and drop out of the conflict entirely, especially after a successful siege.
Assad knows this tactic well, it has been applied quite a few times and can afford to spend time fighting a combatant again later…
Besides, a terrorist out in the open instead of hiding in a jumbled up mess of concrete and steel is alot easier to kill…
The US allowed AQ and Taliban to escape at Tora Bora and subsequent battle. The NYT had photos of thousands of men lining up to cross Pak border and go home. Except they came back in the spring and have been fighting NATO ever since. So, there’s that.
Exactly… A lot of these tactics of the Syrian army are very stupid – such as allowing almost-surrounded jihadi units to retreat with their lives AND weapons by leaving them an “escape route”. Note that the other side NEVER permits this, when they have Syrian soldiers surrounded – they always try to massacre all of them!
“To a surrounded enemy, you must leave a way of escape” Sun Tzu, Art of War.
There is a reasoning behind this that is not apparent at first, and that is: an army that is surrounded will fight to the death because they have nothing to lose… This will result in a long drawn out fight that will also tire the army applying the siege.
Giving a combatant a means to escape does not necessarily mean that they will come back. In fact they are more likely to see that it is a hopeless cause and drop out of the conflict entirely, especially after a successful siege.
Assad knows this tactic well, it has been applied quite a few times and can afford to spend time fighting a combatant again later…
Besides, a terrorist out in the open instead of hiding in a jumbled up mess of concrete and steel is alot easier to kill..
There are 250,000 civilians in East Aleppo, for starters. – Re-capturing Aleppo and Damascus would pretty much end any chance of the “rebels” getting a real voice at peace negotiations AND cement Assad’s rule over Syria. – Getting “justice” for crimes in this war will just lead to more violence from the executed/imprisoned person’s family. I agree with your sentiment, they all deserve to die, but the real guilty parties are sitting in cushy offices far away from Syria. – Putting an end to this conflict while preserving Syria’s borders is the most important thing.
When they surrender the resolve of the others is broken. So if a few surrender, the rest can be crushed more easily.
“To a surrounded enemy, you must leave a way of escape” Sun Tzu, Art of War.
There is a reasoning behind this that is not apparent at first, and that is: an army that is surrounded will fight to the death because they have nothing to lose… This will result in a long drawn out fight that will also tire the army applying the siege.
Giving a combatant a means to escape does not necessarily mean that they will come back. In fact they are more likely to see that it is a hopeless cause and drop out of the conflict entirely, especially after a successful siege.
Assad knows this tactic well, it has been applied quite a few times and can afford to spend time fighting a combatant again later…
Besides, a terrorist out in the open instead of hiding in a jumbled up mess of concrete and steel is alot easier to kill…
any militant surrendering can offer information either directly or indirectly to the SAA so that information can be cross referenced with other intelligence. This war has a lot of grey areas in the way of who is forced to collaborate because their family is held hostage or they have no choice. The day will come where reconciliation has to be true and the guilty of crimes will have to pay the price.