Near Aleppo, Northern SyriaH
eadquarters of the Syrian National Army for the battle raging in Aleppo was in the basement of what had once been a medical clinic on the western outskirts of the city. Although the area was surrounded and secured by a unit of Palestinian volunteers reinforced by local Sunni militia, the SNA commander, chain-smoking at a desk in one corner of the musty room, knew his flanks would be challenged before long. He smiled confidently at the nervous clutch of messengers waiting to carry his orders out to the field commanders running an intense fight with Syrian government forces. Rebel coalition troops were low on ammunition and scattering under intense pressure. Command and control over rag-tag irregulars with little military infrastructure was tenuous at best. The
