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Syria offers 'sincere' amnesty in Aleppo: Pundit

Monday, 01 August 2016 4:42 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 01 August 2016 6:20 AM ]

Syrian army soldiers patrol the area around the entrance of Bani Zeid after taking control of the previously militant-held district of Leramun, on the northwest outskirts of Aleppo, on July 28, 2016.(Photo by AFP)

Political commentator Jim W. Dean believes that the Syrian government is really going to implement amnesty, because this is the cheapest way in the war to save the lives of people.

The managing editor of Veterans Today told Press TV’s Debate program on Sunday, “There is a tremendous record of a lot of folks not only taking the amnesty but actually going into the Syrian army and then fighting for the good guys.”

The Syrian government, backed by Russia, on Friday, launched a large-scale humanitarian relief operation in Aleppo and created corridors for civilians and militants willing to surrender, to leave the city.

Dean added, “Some of the diehards from some of the hardcore Saudi and foreign-backed groups have shown treatments that are worrying. But the real Syrians that were part of the acknowledged Syrian opposition had no trouble taking the amnesty proposed by Damascus.”

Dean also warned that terrorists in Aleppo, who are not afraid of running out of ammunition, want to continue the battle to the end and may take advantage of the government amnesty to form a human shield in the battlefield.

According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, fighting broke out on several fronts on the outskirts of Aleppo late on Sunday.

Also in the Debate program, Michael Lane, with the American Institute for Foreign Policy, said there is no way that people in Aleppo can survive in the mid-term, because the amnesty is a short-term relief.

He further noted, “There is a great deal of reason for all sides not to trust each other. And so for the people who are inside Aleppo now encircled with no supply roots, no nothing, to accept an unverified offer from the Assad regime to lay down their weapons or to leave or egress the city, is sort of a bridge too far.”

Syria has been gripped by foreign-sponsored militancy since March 2011. The Takfiri terrorists operating in the Arab country have suffered major setbacks over the past few months as the Syrian army has managed to liberate several areas.

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict.

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