ALEPPO, Syria – The cease-fire in Syria appears to be holding, by and large. That has given CBS News a rare opportunity to explore Aleppo, Syria’s largest city with a population of two million before the civil war.
We found one week of truce can’t begin to make up for years of fighting.
For three years rebels battled Syrian soldiers in the heart of Aleppo. The world had lost one of its greatest cultural jewels — the city’s ancient market.
There are some things that people on either side of this bitter conflict have in common. One thing is the destruction — which is terrible in the area controlled by the government, and just as bad in territory held by the opposition.
Rubble in Aleppo
The other things they share are misery and exhaustion.
You see that on every side in Salahuddin, a poor neighborhood right on the front line, where tarps shield residents from the eyes of snipers and families eke out life in the ruins.
The Ganzi family invited CBS News inside. There is no running water or electricity in their tiny apartment. Faiza explains that her son, a soldier, was killed in action.
Without his salary, everyone — including the five grandchildren — is surviving on charity.
Downstairs there’s a soccer game, where Hamad plays — he’s pretty fast on his crutches now. It’s been a year since a rocket strike took off his leg.
He was doing errands with his mom when it happened.
People can still do errands and shop for food in the parts of Aleppo that haven’t been smashed to bits. Since the cease-fire, the mood has lightened.
Everyone we spoke to was hoping negotiations might lead to peace, but at the same time Syrian military is preparing to besiege the opposition-controlled half of the city.
So things may be about to get — if you can imagine it — a lot worse.
Source: CBS NEWS, 5 March 2016
