What’s Aleppo?
As Syrian and Russian warplanes pounded rebel-held areas in Aleppo, Moscow residents seemed to respond with a collective shrug.
Updated | It’s a murky afternoon in northern Moscow when I meet “Rafiq” at the cramped offices of a refugee assistance center. A Syrian national, Rafiq fled his homeland to escape the civil war and moved to Moscow with his Russian-born wife. Today, he’s extremely cautious when he talks about the Kremlin’s support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad—so cautious that he doesn’t want me to use his real name.
“State media tells Russians that their military is only killing Islamic State fighters in Syria,” he says.
“Do you believe this is true?”
He grimaces and gestures for me to switch off my recorder.
It’s an understandable reaction. Rafiq’s not only afraid of Syrian intelligence officers; he’s also
