Syria's 'Operation Completion' Code for Ethnic Cleansing?
Syria's army claims its 'combing operation' in Aleppo's Kurdish Sheikh Maqsud district is 'more than 90 percent complete,' urging 'fighters' to surrender after defying a withdrawal deadline, according to Al-Monitor. This 'operation' sounds remarkably similar to past state-sponsored campaigns where 'clearing' areas of 'fighters' often translates to ethnically targeting and displacing minority
populations. History shows autocratic regimes frequently use such euphemisms to justify brute force against dissent or unwanted demographics, particularly when global attention is elsewhere. One might wonder at what point a 'deadline to withdraw' becomes an ultimatum for forced displacement. The convenient narrative of 'defiance' often serves to legitimize violence against those who simply refuse
to abandon their homes. It appears some civilians are only newsworthy when they fit a specific geopolitical agenda, otherwise, their displacement is just 'an operation.'