As the Syrian Army, Kurdish forces and National Defense units are gradually liberating Aleppo from militants, recapturing the old city street by street, let’s see how its residents are surviving the war without water and energy, and with bullets flying overhead.
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© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
The Syrian Army has recaptured two-thirds of Aleppo while the rest of the city, including several central districts, is still under militants’ control.
Above: a soldier of the Syrian Arab Army is seen in a residential area of Aleppo.
Above: a soldier of the Syrian Arab Army is seen in a residential area of Aleppo.
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© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
A RIA Novosti reporter spent several hours in one of the residential areas of Aleppo, with sniper bullets flying across the streets.
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© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
In contrast with Damascus, militants in Aleppo are not encircled: they control districts with access to the western or northern suburbs of the city. There they receive aid and reinforcements from Turkey and the adjacent province of Idlib.
Above: a soldier of the Syrian Arab Army is see in a residential area of Aleppo.
Above: a soldier of the Syrian Arab Army is see in a residential area of Aleppo.
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© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
Entering Aleppo, a stranger sees ruined houses and blocked roads, and children playing nearby as if nothing has happened.
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© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
Locals have learned to survive without water and energy supply and under regular mortar shelling by terrorists.
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© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
The central water supply was long disrupted; clean water is in deficit, as well as electricity and gas.
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© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
Streets are covered with high metal shields serving as defense from snipers.
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© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
Recently, militants started to suffer a shortage of ammunition and weapons. The Syrian Army, Kurdish fighters and National Defense units have been advancing in the north rushing to cut the supply coming across the Turkish border.
Above: a Syrian Arab Army serviceman shows a captured artillery mount used by terrorists to shell residential areas of Aleppo with gas cylinders.
Above: a Syrian Arab Army serviceman shows a captured artillery mount used by terrorists to shell residential areas of Aleppo with gas cylinders.
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© Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev
Aleppo was the largest Syrian city and de-facto economic capital with a population of three million people before the war.
Above: Syrian Arab Army troops in Aleppo.
Above: Syrian Arab Army troops in Aleppo.
Most of Syria's industrial facilities were concentrated in the city of Aleppo and its immediate suburbs, employing 50 percent of country’s labor force.
Above: a boy talks to soldiers of the Syrian Arab Army in a residential area of Aleppo.
Above: a boy talks to soldiers of the Syrian Arab Army in a residential area of Aleppo.
