Aleppo: then and now
Aleppo in Syria is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world with origins dating back to the early second millennium BC. Until recently, it was a thriving urban community of some 2.3 million. Today it is a city ravaged by civil war.
Less than two years ago and just a week or two before the current political unrest commenced, I was on a visit to Aleppo as a tourist and marvelled at the citadel and the souq. You can read a short account of my time in the historic city here.
For months now, Aleppo – like most other cities in Syria – has been blighted by fighting. This week, we learned of the horror of more than 100 men being bound and shot and abandoned. You can read a news item on the massacre here.
While I long for the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and his regime, I despair at the death, destruction and displacement and fear for the future of the country.