certainly civilians. we don t know how many. but look, the fall of aleppo is imminent. this can t go on for too long. president assad has been on television, on russian television today, talking about what happens next. even if aleppo falls, this war, chris, isn t over. isis controls a large part of eastern syria, including palmyra which it retook recently. rebels controlled the province in the north and in the south near dara and the kurds control the border south of turkey. this war isn t over because it s several wars. it s not just a war between the government and rebels. and, you know, assad will control the four major cities of syria, aleppo, damascus and hahns. he says he wants it back in the days ahead.
the russians and iranians came in to help assad. the russians had been bombing the forces we trained, not isil. when aleppo falls, and it will, big win for russia, iran, assad, and isil, because with assad in power, isil can recruit for generations to come. big loss for the united states. and there are a bunch of kids growing up in syria that are going to hate the west, and they probably should. president trump has made it clear he has no desire to deploy troops to that part of the world. you can blame bush for going in and having the invasion and toppling saddam hussein. but trump has said that we re better off with saddam hussein in power, gadhafi, ben ali, and assad. let me tell you this, mr.
so concerned about, you know, the children and the families who are still there. but i guess practically speaking, is this the end of the resistance to the assad regime? not if you speak to the people, christine there. they do see this as a major turning point. just to give you an idea, a few months ago, i asked a resident in eastern aleppo, an activist, an idealist who really believed in the syrian revolution. i said what would you do if aleppo falls. at that point, they really could not see that happening, he said, no one would let aleppo fall because that would mean that the syrian revolution has failed. a lot of people that we speak to say they will continue with this. that this is not the end of their fight for freedom. as some still describe it. of course, the concern here is, you re going to be seeing possibly while the rebels are losing their major urban
aleppo. we don t know how many. there has been talk of six civilians, i think it s got to be much more than that. there were miserable scenes yesterday as thousands of people trudged out of aleppo in the rain. we thought that many more would escape today. that hasn t been the case. one thing finally to point out, tamron, even if aleppo falls, even if the battle there is over, the war in syria is not over. it s raging. at least four different places. sectors involving isis who recaptured palmeira. it involves the kurds. it involves the turks. it s in the north, it s in the south. so even if aleppo completely falls in the next few days, this war is so far from over, tamron. bill neely, thank you. for more on the developments you just heard, let s get some insight from senator dick durbin of illinois. senator durbin, thank you so much for your time. thanks, tamron. let me get your thoughts on u.s. ambassador samantha power,
that they got came from people who have been credible in the past. the people who told them that the executions took place have been credible in the past. so there is grave concern on the part of the u.n. of course, also on the part of the u.s., as to what all these pro-assad forces are doing there in eastern aleppo. we also have to keep in mind that these are not just syrian government troops. these are also hezbollah militias. iraqi shia militias. syrian/palestinian militias. some very difficult to control. certainly that s one of the reasons why the u.s. says that right now it s on the syrian government and it s on the russians to make sure that no atrocities are committed there, jake. fred, we have been focusing on aleppo when it comes to the syrian civil war. obviously this is not only going on in aleppo. if aleppo falls, is that the end of the civil war? has assad essentially won? you know what, he has taken a