Rami Jarrah, also known as his alias Alexander Page, is a media activist and one of the very few Syrian journalists on the ground covering the civil war. He is currently working on a series of video reports documenting the Russian airstrikes in Aleppo because he believes that Western media's presentation of the conflict is misdirected. According to Jarrah, journalists are neglecting the fact that Russian and Syrian air strikes—which he estimates are as frequent as 15 a day—are targeting residential areas not under ISIS control, killing civilians and rebels. Jarrah says this strategy benefits the Assad regime, and ultimately ISIS, and that more should be done to stop it.
We reached him earlier this month at home near a frontline in rebel-held Aleppo.
VICE: What's been happening these past few days? What have you been witnessing?
Rami Jarrah: In general, there's been an escalation in the strikes in the center of the city. About a week ago, the attacks were more so in the Northern Region and on the Southern front where there are basically clashes between the regime and the opposition groups, but it's been escalating over the past few days in the center of the city. This morning are actually fighters, and also oppose ISIS, and the majority of those are actually fighting ISIS. There are more fronts right now in Aleppo between ISIS and these rebel groups, than there are between the regime and these rebel groups.
The only thing holding back the rebels in Aleppo and in Idlib from actually fighting ISIS off, and actually accomplishing or gaining any ground back, and pushing them further out of Syria, are the airstrikes. And it's not just the Syrian and the Russian airstrikes. The Syrian and the Russian airstrikes are actually applying most of their pressure on the rebels, which is preventing them from being able to fight with ISIS. And then the international coalition's attacks are pushing ISIS further out of Iraq, towards Syria, towards Aleppo. And this is exactly what the Syrian regime wants. If Aleppo is to be taken by ISIS, then this is a victory for the Syrian regime and it's a victory for Russia because it becomes the whole world's problem.
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