Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba commented on the successful offensive of the Syrian opposition in Aleppo, highlighting the connection between Russian war crimes in Syria in 2016 and those in Ukraine in 2022.
"The fall of Aleppo in 2016 was a dark prelude to Bucha, Mariupol, and Bakhmut in 2022. It was in Syria that Russian pilots learned how to level Ukrainian cities to the ground. The world's failure to confront Putin and Assad at that time was an open invitation for Putin to invade Ukraine.
Today's success of the rebels in Aleppo is promising. With Putin's army in Ukraine being defeated, he is unlikely to muster enough forces to save Assad. But the lesson remains: the events of 2016 and 2022 could have been avoided had democracies fought against tyrants from the very beginning instead of merely making empty statements," - wrote Kuleba on the social media platform X.
As reported by CNN on November 29, the armed forces of the Syrian opposition entered Aleppo just three days after their sudden offensive. This marks the first time they have entered the territory of the country's second-largest city since government forces regained it in 2016.