Category Archives: Aleppo

Syria earthquake aftermath: why is situation so bad in war-ravaged country?

Posted on by

Beset by crumbling infrastructure and food shortages, Syria’s war-ravaged population was unprepared for the deadly quake

Syria bears the scars of 12 years of brutal war, the effects of which are likely to hamper aid efforts in the areas worst hit by the quake. Beset by conflict, food shortages, economic collapse and a recent cholera outbreak, the country’s national infrastructure has been at crisis point for years, barely able to support its war-weary population.

And that was before the worst earthquake to hit the region in decades struck.

Continue reading...

‘Parents are dressing up their children to be buried’: Syria’s war on young escalates

Posted on by

Mural artist Hussein Sabbagh, 13, one of 27 children killed in government attacks in north-west Syria in two months

Amid the rubble of bombed homes in Binnish, a town in north-west Syria, a brightly painted mural stands out. The image shows an intact house, with love hearts streaming from the windows. Overhead, however, the dark silhouettes of birds are accompanied by helicopters, warplanes and missiles, and the garden’s red and yellow flowers look like flames.

Related: Syria: Assad shells former opposition stronghold Deraa

Continue reading...

‘A crime on top of a crime’: Assad regime reburies Aleppo’s war dead

Posted on by

Fears Syrian government carrying out ‘degrading’ exhumations to erase identities and forensic evidence

Fadwa Hallak’s memory of what happened the day her husband died is blurry.

Ibrahim Rahawi was killed by shrapnel in either an airstrike or missile attack in 2015 during the siege of Aleppo – one of the bloodiest and most brutal chapters of Syria’s long war.

Continue reading...

Hope and heartbreak, three years after the fall of Aleppo

Posted on by

When the Observer spoke to people in the besieged city three years ago, they told of their daily struggle. Now they tell their stories of exile

In December 2016, in the eastern half of Aleppo, a brutal siege was drawing to a bloody end. The last bombs were falling on its shattered streets, snipers were picking off their last victims. Besieged civilians, if they still had food, prepared their final meagre meals inside a city they had clung to for four painful years.

Continue reading...

Rebuilding Aleppo: ‘We cannot preserve the place but we can save our memories’

Posted on by

Thousands of Aleppians are using a Facebook group to share their way of life before the Syrian war

Going to the hammam was once a beloved ritual for Aleppo resident Atef Shikhouni and his friends. Recalling the boisterous, joyful experience, the 55-year-old wrote: “Here is a man shouting, ‘Where is the soap?’ while another one is asking for the shampoo and a third wants someone to rub his back. It becomes very noisy. After spending some time in the sauna, it is time for the ‘rubbing man’. He uses a rough loofah to rub my body mercilessly and I pray it will end without any damage.”

But that was before the outbreak of war in Syria. “Today, the bath is cold and has no soul,” the sports teacher wrote in February 2017, shortly after the worst of the fighting in Aleppo had ended. “Cruel are our days, exactly like our bath today.”

Continue reading...

Eleven killed in Aleppo as war-damaged block of flats collapses

Posted on by

Five-storey building falls in formerly rebel-held neighbourhood of Syria’s second city

At least 11 people, including four children, have died after a block of flats collapsed in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday, according to state media.

One child was pulled out alive from the rubble of the five-storey, war-damaged block after rescue teams worked to remove the shattered breeze blocks that had buried him, AFP photographers said.

Continue reading...