Syria: Aleppo is nail in Assad's coffin, says Panetta

[MindMover]

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's assault on the city of Aleppo will be "a nail in his coffin".

Mr Panetta was speaking at the start of a five-day Middle East tour.

Heavy fighting is continuing in Syria's largest city where government forces are trying to oust rebel fighters.

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said 200,000 people had fled the fighting in Aleppo and that an unknown number were trapped.

She said that the city urgently needed supplies including food and water.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19043654

[UnrepentantLiberal]

1. I sure hope so.

Looks like he's taking the country down with him.

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. I don't expect this to be over soon, though you never can tell.

It seems like all the FSA has been able to do so far is occupy neighborhoods, then see them destroyed. Then they retreat.

The Syrian military continues to have overwhelming firepower superiority and is increasingly desperate enough to use it. I think they will push the insurgents out of Aleppo, leaving behind empty, shattered neighborhoods. Then on to the next occupied city. Rinse, lather, repeat.

But I heard one expert say something that struck me: This kind of attempt at regime change is not a linear process; the Assad regime could just come down like a house of cards all of a sudden.

[MindMover]

3. The house of cards is falling as we speak ...