The stories we aren't talking about: Aleppo. [View all]

[cali]

In Aleppo, 2 million people have no water supply, no electricity, little food and they're being bombarded to hell.



The water pumps in Aleppo, Syria, are no longer getting power, leaving 2 million people without running water — and at risk of coming under a full siege.

The United Nations is calling for an immediate halt to the fighting and at minimum a two-day weekly humanitarian cease-fire to allow for the city's water and electrical systems to be repaired. But there's another round of fighting ongoing in the strategically significant city.

Aleppo is divided in two: the rebel-held east and government-held west. But for civilians, it's "a city now united in its suffering," as U.N. officials put it.

A few days ago, rebels forces claimed significant gains. They said they broke a government siege on the east side and also cut off the main access road to the west side.

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In late July, Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF, described attacks on four hospitals in eastern Aleppo in just one week.

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http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/09/489296670/2-million-residents-of-war-ravaged-aleppo-now-without-running-water


Doctors Describe Horrendous Conditions in Syria's Aleppo

http://www.voanews.com/content/doctors-describe-horrendous-conditions-syria-aleppo/3456265.html

Regime Bombings Interrupt Daily Life In Syrian City Of Aleppo

http://www.npr.org/2016/08/09/489361647/regime-bombings-interrupt-daily-life-in-syrian-city-of-aleppo

Putin Seeks Approval for Air Force’s Indefinite Syria Stay

Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked parliament to ratify the Russian air force’s indefinite stay in Syria almost a year after the official beginning of Russia’s military operations there.

The Russian Ministry of Defense struck a deal last August with the Syrian government to provide assistance to Damascus in battling militants in the country, using Syrian facilities rent-free and without worry of compensation for damages. Putin’s push for airstrikes were approved by parliament on the last day of September and the first official Russian airstrikes fell before dusk.

Now Putin has submitted the agreement for parliamentary ratification, state news agency Itar-Tass reported. Putin’s decision to seek parliamentary approval for the exact terms of Russia’s intervention are unclear, but the lower house of parliament’s deputy speaker said it was bound to be approved.

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read:http://www.newsweek.com/putin-asks-parliament-ratify-air-forces-indefinite-syria-stay-488864

And no, this isn't about what the U.S. should do. It's about how awful it is. It's about the Iraq War destabilization of the Middle East.
It's about how hopeless the whole ghastly mess in Syria is; how apparently there is no navigable avenue to save these people.

And damned straight we need to increase the number of Syrian refugees we allow into the U.S.