rebel districts with barrel bombs , causing thousands of casualties September 2015 : Syria launches a fresh offensive in the wake of Russia 's intervention in the conflict February 2016 : The government captures towns north of Aleppo , threatening to encircle the city
This is clear from her response to ABC reporter Martha Raddatz ’s painfully loaded question about the Syrian conflict . With Raddatz going on about the hundreds killed by the evil twins , Bashar al - Assad and Putin and even tossing in the Holocaust for good measure , Clinton saw no reason to hold back : “ Well , the situation in Syria is catastrophic and every day that goes by we see the results of the regime – by Assad in partnership with the Iranians on the ground , the Russians in the air – bombardingconflict.attack.selfdirectedbattleplaces , in particular Aleppo where there are hundreds of thousands of people , probably about 250,000 still left , and there is a determined effort by the Russian air force to destroy Aleppo in order to eliminate the last of the Syrian rebels who are really holding out against the Assad regime . “ Russia has n’t paid any attention to ISIS . They ’re interested in keeping Assad in power .
Airstrikes earlier this month killed three people and wounded at least six at a Doctors Without Borders - supported hospital in Daraa governorate , southern Syria , on February 5 , the aid group said . Chaos in northern Syria Northern Syria has been the scene of intense fighting recently , with Syrian regime forces , backed by Russian air power , pursuing a major offensive on the key city Aleppo , and Turkey bombardingconflict.attack.selfdirectedbattleKurdish People 's Protection Units , or YPG , near Azaz over the weekend . JUST WATCHED Turkish strikes on YPG Kurds complicate Syrian chaos Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Turkish strikes on YPG Kurds complicate Syrian chaos 01:17 The United States and France called on Ankara to halt the bombardment , which killed two Kurdish fighters and wounded seven others , according to a London - based monitoring group , and Syria complained to the U.N. Security Council about the Turkish shelling .
It basically has fallen , ” Trump said . Then he quickly changed the subject to wonder aloud why the Iraqi government does n’t do a “ sneak attack ” to liberate Mosul , it ’s second largest city . The Assad regime and its Russian partners are bombardingconflict.attack.selfdirectedbattleeastern Aleppo each and every day in a brutal campaign to crush the opposition under siege there by terrorizing the civilian population . The U.S. government and international experts agree Syria and Russia are committing war crimes there . For Trump to deny that any hope exists for the people of Aleppo to resist this onslaught amounts to turning a blind eye to the ongoing atrocities .
" Neighborhoods have been erased completely . Now as I talk to you , the aircrafts are in the sky . " Another worker with the group said he does not trust the Syrian and Russian forces to stop bombardingconflict.attack.selfdirectedbattlethe area . " In a few days , they will bomb us , bomb everything and kill everything like yesterday , " said Ismail Abdullah . In early October , Putin exacerbated the rift over Syria by suspending a key post Cold - War agreement with Washington over disposal of nuclear weapons accusing the US of failing to eliminate tons of weapons - grade plutonium and “ unfriendly acts toward Russia . ”
The forum landed in the wake of new NBC News / Survey Monkey polling showing that Trump holds a substantial lead over Clinton when it comes to military and veteran voters — a crucial voting bloc in states like Virginia -- 55 percent to 36 percent overall . Even so , as the two campaigns spar over the numbers of military endorsers each has , Trump ’s poll numbers in the military community are lower than either Mitt Romney 's in 2012 or John McCain ’s in 2008 relative to Obama ’s . After a summer of Clinton bombardingconflict.attack.selfdirectedbattleTrump ’s fitness for the office and a stretch in which he saw his support waver after clashing with the parents of a deceased soldier , however , this week ’s pitches are not just targeted at the significant military community : They are each campaign ’s latest attempt to appeal to middle - class voters concerned about national security and their own safety . While Trump has gone after Clinton aggressively over her emails , she has responded by pointing out some of his policy inconsistencies on the trail and specifically identifying his ties to Russia as particularly troubling . Prior to the event , members of the Trump team spent pieces of the morning playing defense after Clinton ’s super PAC , Priorities USA Action , promoted an ad that prominently featured the candidate declaring his love for war , the latest in a series of spots from both the campaign and super PAC making the case that Trump is far too inconsistent and unpredictable to sit in the Oval Office or have control of the nuclear codes .
In response , Russia 's defence ministry asked permission from President Vladimir Putin to resume air strikes against the rebels after a 10-day pause , but he denied the request . About 275,000 people have been besieged in the east of the city for months . Russian and Syrian government planes began bombardingconflict.attack.selfdirectedbattlethe city in September . More than 2,700 people are said to have been killed and injured since then . Russia suspended its air campaign on 18 October to allow evacuations of sick and wounded people but few have heeded the call to leave .
The French foreign minister has said he will ask the International Court of Justice to investigate possible war crimes in Syria . " We do not agree with what Russia is doing , bombardingconflict.attack.selfdirectedbattleAleppo . France is committed as never before to saving the population of Aleppo , " Jean - Marc Ayrault said . France and Spain drafted a resolution on resurrecting an agreement on cessation of hostilities in the Syrian conflict which was put before a vote at the UN Security Council on Friday .