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Syria's battle for Aleppo far from the first
by Patrick Martin
Globe and Mail
July 26, 2012 Thursday 9:24 AM GMT
Canada
Conquering armies have battled for the Syrian city for centuries --
some with luck, others without
ABSTRACT Conquering armies have battled for the Syrian city for
centuries -- some with luck, others without
FULL TEXT This is far from the first time people have fought over
Aleppo, Syria's largest and most outward-looking city. Since the 16th
century BCE , conquering armies have taken or tried to take the place,
which sits at a major crossroads in Asia Minor.
Alexander the Great conquered it in 333 BCE, and the Armenians who
had come to rule over it surrendered it to Pompey in 64 BCE.
Arabs, radiating out from the Arabian Peninsula with the word of God
in the form of the Koran, won over the city quickly in 637 CE, and
the Crusaders from Europe twice attempted to defeat the garrison of
the city and failed, continuing on, nevertheless, to the more easily
captured Holyland.
Saladin came to control the great city, still flourishing then as
the last stop on the Silk Road before Europe and the Mediterranean.
However, Mongol forces riding down that Silk Road captured it in 1260.
Tamerlane took it in 1400; the Ottomans in 1516.
There is scarcely a single regional warrior or leader who could resist
trying to conquer the city.
Domestically, too, there long has been rivalry between Aleppo and
Damascus. The French split Syria during their mandate period from
1920s to 1940s, with separate states of Aleppo and Damascus.
After independence, and during an effort to reunite the country of
Syria, the people of Aleppo said they would prefer union with Iraq,
then ruled by a Hashemite monarch, rather than union with Damascus,
which leaned toward Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
It wasn't to be and, once more, in the past few months, and especially
in the past few days, the people of Aleppo are paying the price as
the rebels from Syria joined by fighters from Iraq are trying to take
the city, while an army and air force, directed by Damascus, don't
hesitate to blast away at the city they already think of as foreign.
by Patrick Martin
Globe and Mail
July 26, 2012 Thursday 9:24 AM GMT
Canada
Conquering armies have battled for the Syrian city for centuries --
some with luck, others without
ABSTRACT Conquering armies have battled for the Syrian city for
centuries -- some with luck, others without
FULL TEXT This is far from the first time people have fought over
Aleppo, Syria's largest and most outward-looking city. Since the 16th
century BCE , conquering armies have taken or tried to take the place,
which sits at a major crossroads in Asia Minor.
Alexander the Great conquered it in 333 BCE, and the Armenians who
had come to rule over it surrendered it to Pompey in 64 BCE.
Arabs, radiating out from the Arabian Peninsula with the word of God
in the form of the Koran, won over the city quickly in 637 CE, and
the Crusaders from Europe twice attempted to defeat the garrison of
the city and failed, continuing on, nevertheless, to the more easily
captured Holyland.
Saladin came to control the great city, still flourishing then as
the last stop on the Silk Road before Europe and the Mediterranean.
However, Mongol forces riding down that Silk Road captured it in 1260.
Tamerlane took it in 1400; the Ottomans in 1516.
There is scarcely a single regional warrior or leader who could resist
trying to conquer the city.
Domestically, too, there long has been rivalry between Aleppo and
Damascus. The French split Syria during their mandate period from
1920s to 1940s, with separate states of Aleppo and Damascus.
After independence, and during an effort to reunite the country of
Syria, the people of Aleppo said they would prefer union with Iraq,
then ruled by a Hashemite monarch, rather than union with Damascus,
which leaned toward Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
It wasn't to be and, once more, in the past few months, and especially
in the past few days, the people of Aleppo are paying the price as
the rebels from Syria joined by fighters from Iraq are trying to take
the city, while an army and air force, directed by Damascus, don't
hesitate to blast away at the city they already think of as foreign.