Surviving Aleppo: Life and death in Syria's devastated city

Surviving Aleppo: Life and death in Syria's devastated city
Video: The daily struggle to stay alive is sapping the energy of desperate Syrians trapped in a deadly siege.
1 min read
11 May, 2016

Surviving Aleppo

Aleppo, Syria's second largest city and the nation's commercial hub, has been devastated over a period of several years by incessant air raids aiming to oust the rebels who took over parts of the city in 2013.

As regime forces dropped indiscriminate barrel bombs over Aleppo on a near-daily basis, thousands of Syrian civilians fled their homes.

But a fresh regime offensive launched last year, backed by Russia and its heavy artillery, saw the city's infrastructure pounded, buildings flattened, even more civilians fleeing and thousands killed or wounded.

The regime offensive claims to be targeting rebels and "terrorist groups", but air raids struck civil defence units, schools and hospitals.

Volunteers, known as the White Helmets, can often be seen rushing to the scene of carnage, pulling bodies from the rubble and helping the wounded.

Thousands of civilians fled the city, heading towards Turkey - only to be stranded on the border in a refugee camp with limited aid and supplies.

Film-makers Lindsey Snell and Mustafa Sultan show us around the devastated city and introduce us to some of its survivors in an exclusive video report for The New Arab.

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