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

[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.