Aleppo Conflict Timeline - July 2016
The Aleppo Project2016
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Abstract
In July, the government put eastern Aleppo under siege. On 7 July, the second day of Eid al-Fitr celebrations, the Army and its allies took over a hilltop near al-Mallah Farms. This brought the Castello Road, the only route into rebel-held Aleppo, within range of artillery fire. In practice, this besieged the city because any moving vehicle on the road became an easy target. On 16 July, the regime tightened the siege by cutting off the Castello Road completely.
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The clouds of war started gathering after the fall of the Lavrov-Kerry agreement which aimed to cease hostilities in Aleppo. The fall of the ceasefire agreement was followed by intensified bombing on eastern Aleppo and periodic attacks towards western Aleppo. Blame exchanged between Russian and U.S. diplomats for breaking the agreement highlighted the fragmentation and fragility of the agreement and the lack of leverage over their allies on the ground. The resumption of violence caused mass scale damage and deterioration of living conditions in Aleppo, and gave space to armed opposition forces, especially Jabhat al-Nusra, to carry out further attacks. Although rebel groups managed to break the siege in eastern Aleppo earlier in August 2016, which allowed food and ammunitions to enter the eastern part, the humanitarian situation deteriorated, and the level of deprivation inflicted upon inhabitants of eastern Aleppo increased until the fall of the city in December 2016. In continuation of the regime’s strategy “Surrender or We Wipe You Out”1, bids for an urgent intervention to stop the annihilation of eastern Aleppo and its people went in vain. To access the article online, please follow this link: http://www.thealeppoproject.com/the-fall-of-aleppo-city/
Aleppo Conflict Timeline - Introduction
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Syria is suffering the brutal winter that followed the Arab Spring. This popular outpouring for social, economic and political change in the Middle East and North Africa started in Tunisia and has not ended yet despite the efforts of many governments to crush it. In February 2011, Damascene protestors began to defy the heavy hand of the repressive state, which had been exercising power since 1970. The torture of several children by the security forces prompted more protests in Deraa in March. For the first six months, the protesters were largely non-violent, but even peaceful protests met with intense brutality from the state. By September, armed rebel movements had emerged in response and Syria sank into what would become a catastrophic civil war.
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The struggle for the Syrian city of Aleppo is of great strategic importance for all conflict stakeholders. The winner on the front line will significantly determine the course of negotiations regarding a ceasefire as well as the political future of Syria. The Aleppo offensive is, therefore, a matter of life and death for the armed opposition in their fight against the regime and its allies. Peace in Syria can ultimately only be achieved by pressure from outside. If the United States and Russia pull on one rope together, the chances are good that the regime will bend to Russian demands and open up to an inclusive process leading to political stabilization.
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THE OLD CITY OF ALEPPO. SITUATION ANALYSIS
In the wake of the Syrian conflict that has been ongoing for over five years, key cultural sites in the country have been rampaged including the Old city of Aleppo. Despite the tremendous local and international efforts to observe and document the damage to Syrian heritage, little attention is given to the time gap between the conflict and post-conflict reconstruction periods, during which irreversible damage may be inflicted on the heritage. It is of utmost importance to deliver first aid emergency measures once Old Aleppo is accessible in order to stabilize and secure assets, but also to pave the way for an inclusive post-conflict reconstruction process that meets the needs of the affected community.
ALEPPO: A LEVANT CITY in the PERIOD of MODERNIZATION
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“The city is as old as eternity, but still young, and it has never ceased to exist. Its days and nights have been long; it has survived its rulers and commoners. These are its houses and dwellings, but where are their former residents and the people who visited them? These are its palaces and chambers of court, but where are the Hamdanid princes and their poets? They have all passed away, but the city is still here. City of wonders! It endures. Its kings fall; they disappear, but its destruction has not been ordered”.
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This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.
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