Attacks by Interim Govt. mercenaries on Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafieh dominate press

Arab newspapers issued this morning covered the attacks launched by mercenaries of the interim government, with direct backing from the Turkish occupation, on the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods in the city of Aleppo, in a scene that once again brings fears of demographic-engineering projects to the forefront.

In this context, the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar said: “Ankara continues its systematic military escalation to push the Kurds eastward, using the National Army and the forces of the interim government, within the framework of an old Turkish plan that this time appears to be carried out with American complicity to reshape Syria’s demography through forced displacement operations.” The paper noted that what is happening in Aleppo’s northern districts goes beyond a limited military action, taking on a strategic character aimed at imposing new realities on the ground by force.

The newspaper added: “However, this objective, despite the Kurdish retreat in Aleppo, remains far from being achieved, as calls for the federalization of Syria continue to grow and may well find their way into reality, especially with the ongoing sectarian and ethnic sorting the country has witnessed in recent months, during which Druze have been pushed south, Alawites west, and Kurds are now being driven east.” It warned that this trajectory threatens long-term dangers to the unity of the country and its social cohesion.

For its part, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed focused on the humanitarian dimension of the escalation, noting that “the continued shelling of Sheikh Maqsoud has made the sky appear as if it were collapsing onto the ground.” The paper added that “humanitarian conditions have deteriorated sharply after the only hospital in Sheikh Maqsoud went out of service following its fourth targeting, alongside a direct strike on Othman Hospital in the neighboring Ashrafieh district, exacerbating the health crisis.”

Other press reports indicated that indiscriminate shelling by mercenaries of the interim government has forced hundreds of families to flee, amid severe shortages of medical and food supplies and the prevention of humanitarian organizations from accessing the besieged neighborhoods. They also warned that the continuation of this escalation opens the door to a wider wave of violence and entrenches the logic of force as the sole means of imposing political solutions, at the expense of civilians who pay the heaviest price each time, reviving memories of what the defunct Baathist regime carried out over 14 years.

A-H

ANHA