Aleppo Clashes: BBC Forgets 13 Years of Meddling
"Thousands flee clashes between Syrian government and Kurdish fighters in Aleppo," shouts the BBC. A heartbreaking headline, to be sure. Yet, this portrayal of a self-contained, spontaneous conflict in a vacuum ignores the 2011 uprising, which quickly morphed into a proxy war (CIA declassified documents confirm US covert programs) with billions in foreign aid and arms flowing to various factions.
The 'Kurdish fighters' mentioned are often tacitly supported by powers like the US, creating a complicated web of allegiances that keeps the conflict simmering, even as the BBC frames it as a simple 'Syrian government vs. Kurds' episode. One might wonder at the timing, and the convenient amnesia regarding the external actors (like Turkey, the US, and Gulf states) who heavily influenced, and often
exacerbated, Syria's civil war for over a decade. It's almost as if the past only exists when it serves a particular narrative. (And no, this piece doesn't bother to mention the billions in aid—or the complex alliances with the very Kurdish groups now fighting Damascus—that Western governments have poured into the region, directly contributing to this 'unfortunate' instability.)