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Deadly Attacks On Aleppo Pick Up Force

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Unrelenting aerial assaults in Aleppo, Syria by government forces and Russia. We’ll look at the state of the battle, the crisis.

In this photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, Syrians inspect damaged buildings after airstrikes by government helicopters on the rebel-held Aleppo neighborhood of Mashhad, Syria. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets/AP)
In this photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, Syrians inspect damaged buildings after airstrikes by government helicopters on the rebel-held Aleppo neighborhood of Mashhad, Syria. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets/AP)

In the week since a fragile ceasefire collapsed in Syria, life in the country’s largest city Aleppo has gone from bad to hell. Syrian and Russian aircraft have poured bombs on to rebel-held areas, including massive “bunker-busting” bombs that give civilians nowhere to hide. Hospitals, destroyed. Food and water, nowhere. There are charges of barbarism. War crimes. This hour On Point, we look at the savagery in Aleppo, and the dynamics behind it. And we remember Israel’s Shimon Peres. — Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Liz Sly, Beirut bureau chief for the Washington Post. (@LizSly)

Caroline Anning, humanitarian media manager for Save the Children. (@CarolineAnning)

Clarissa Ward, senior international correspondent for CNN. (@clarissaward)

Noah Bonsey, senior analyst on Syria for the International Crisis Group. (@NoahBonsey)

From Tom’s Reading List

Washington Post: A ferocious assault on Aleppo suggests the U.S. may be wrong on Syria -- "Syrian and Russian warplanes launched a ferocious assault against rebel-held Aleppo on Friday, burying any hopes that a U.S.-backed cease-fire could be salvaged and calling into question whether the deal would ever have worked."

CNN: As Trump and Clinton debate foreign policy, Syria barely gets a mention — "The circus of politics can often be a distraction from actual policy — and last night's debate proved no exception when it came to the subject of foreign affairs. The back and forth between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was perhaps more instructive in terms of what was not mentioned — Syria's civil war, for instance — than what was discussed."

New York Times: Syria and Russia Appear Ready to Scorch Aleppo — "Make life intolerable and death likely. Open an escape route, or offer a deal to those who leave or surrender. Let people trickle out. Kill whoever stays. Repeat until a deserted cityscape is yours. It is a strategy that both the Syrian government and its Russian allies have long embraced to subdue Syrian rebels, largely by crushing the civilian populations that support them."

This program aired on September 28, 2016.

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