Aleppo: 5,000 years of history in ruins

Syria has been locked in a deadly civil war since 2011, when civilians first took to the streets calling for President Bashar Al-Assad to step down.

Intense fighting between Assad forces and armed opposition groups spilled into the Syrian city of Aleppo in 2012. Once a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city has since been reduced to rubble. The opposition-held eastern part of the city, besieged by the Syrian government and Russia, has become a scene of fierce clashes and military airstrikes, unleashing a humanitarian crisis that has drawn in global and regional powers.

Aleppo-born restaurant owner Carlo Ohanian captured just how much the historical city has been marred by nearly six years of brutal war in a series of photographs he published on social media.

“Today, everything is a nightmare,” Ohanian told the Independent.

Many of the historic city’s ancient structures and world-famous landmarks have been devastated. The 11th century minaret at the Umayyad Mosque was destroyed. The ancient city’s Citadel, one of the oldest and largest in the world, has sustained considerable damage. The city’s historic souqs, ancient trading markets, have also been burnt and ruined.

The Umayyad Mosque in Old Aleppo (Carlo Ohanian/Olympia)

The Umayyad Mosque, Aleppo (Carlo Ohanian/Olympia)

(Carlo Ohanian/Olympia)

The once-bustling souq, Aleppo (Carlo Ohanian/Olympia)

Shahba Shopping Centre, Aleppo (Carlo Ohanian/Olympia)

(Carlo Ohanian/Olympia)

Saint Elias Cathedral, an Eastern Catholic church in Farhat Square, Aleppo (Carlo Ohanian/Olympia)

The Carlton Citadel Hotel, Aleppo (Carlo Ohanian/Olympia)