Humanitarian crisis continues in Aleppo

The past four years in the Syrian city of Aleppo seem to be filled with numerous deaths and injuries, untold destruction, and a humanitarian catastrophe caused by relentless ground fighting and punishing attacks.

Since the beginning of this year, China Central Television (CCTV) reporters have paid several visits to the war-torn city, and witnessed the fighting; damages caused to residential buildings, historic sites, medical facilities, schools, and even the UN offices; and the suffering of civilians at shelters.

The devastation was prominent across the city, with entire neighborhoods leveled; schools, hospitals, marketplaces and factories destroyed; and ancient landmarks reduced to rubble.

Civilians have been the biggest victims of the fighting between government forces and opposition factions. Even now many continue to remain in the hospitals that are still operating.

Meanwhile, more citizens, many of whom are women and children, have been forced to live at reception centers without enough food and other supplies.

Although the war has ended and Aleppo has been returned to government control, the humanitarian crisis in the city continues; and what was once the world’s oldest city has been reduced to a shell of its former glory.

When people took to the street late night on Dec 22. after the government announcement of Aleppo’s liberation, they were both celebrating the end of brutal war, and hoping to start rebuilding their lives on the ruins of the ancient city.

In addition to Aleppo, the prolonged conflict in Syria, now in its sixth year, has also devastated many other cities, including Homs and Palmyra.