BEIRUT, LEBANON (8:00 A.M.) – Following a series big territorial losses and military defeats across the provinces of Idlib, Hama and Aleppo at the hands of the Syrian Arab Army, rebel forces are now facing the real possibility of a losing their last major strongholds in the country’s northwest.
As history has shown time and time again, desperate times call for desperate measures. In the case of the still unfolding history being witnessed in northwest Syria, pro-rebel armchair generals are now discussing the idea of building a wall around militant-held Idlib.
As bold as the thought is, there are two major problems with such an approach.
First there exists the issue of finding the necessary manpower and materials to build a wall several hundred kilometers in length (and however tall it would need to be) quickly enough at a time when the Syrian Army is already advancing into the center of Idlib.
Even if such a wall is miraculously built, the second problem presents itself as follows: What if the Syrian Army just blows it up?
In an age of mobile warfare and firepower that, to say the least, is a little more destructive than what existed during medieval times (when building a wall might have worked), the Syrian Army – as the most powerful faction in the Syria’s conflict with its thousands of tanks and artillery pieces as well as its access to two air forces – would hardly be hindered by a static cement object (however tall) with zero fight-back capabilities.
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