Main image: Smoke billows as opposition and government forces clash on the outskirts of the city of Saraqib, Aleppo province, just off the highway between Damascus and Aleppo. Photograph: Omar Haj Kadour/AFP/Getty Images
The offensive by Syrian resistance forces that began this week has already brought the vanguard units to the western outskirts of Aleppo, and the city is now being encircled from the south.
According to available reports, Russian military police and special forces have been withdrawn from the Menagh airbase, Tal Rifaat, and Aleppo itself.
The situation for the "Assadists" (Syrian Arab Army - SAA) is collapsing, and the important city can be considered lost to them in the near future. Aleppo was unprepared for defense and will become the most significant loss for the SAA in recent years.
Why should this concern us? Because Bashar al-Assad, helpless in the matters of genocide against his own people and relying solely on Russia and Iran's support for these crimes, will seek help from Moscow. Will Moscow allocate resources to assist its puppet, the bloody dictator?
And here, like a tightrope walker with a weak vestibular system, Putin will have to make the "difficult" decision: to help or not to help.
Unexpectedly, and perhaps surprisingly for Russia, a second front has opened up, one they cannot ignore. If they do, they will lose Syria. It's a multi-move situation, like a "split."
