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Aleppo, Syria, is probably the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. With the first settlers dating to 6 millennia B.C., it has amassed incomprehensible amounts of history behind its walls. Aleppo used to be the biggest city in Syria, but since 2012 July the 19th, when horrors of the Syrian War ensued, now Damascus, Syria's capital, is the largest.
The Syrian Civil War, still happening today, has demanded the deaths of thousands of civilians. With the center of it all being Aleppo, the many barrel bombs dropped from helicopters have destroyed what used to be the oldest city in the world. The hammams, souqs, basilicas, and the ancient Old Town had turned to rubble because of this dispute. Not to mention the many peoples' lives it has destroyed.
Now, we understand that these war pictures of the great city before and after the war are not our usual cheery topic to write about, but sometimes it's good to have a reality check.
Scroll down below to see the destruction of the UNESCO World Heritage site in our picture list of Syria before and after the war.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Final score:
77points
Ole Peder Amrud Hagen 9 years ago
A few years back I sat there and had an amazing meal in one of the friendliest cities I've ever visited. Now... an unbelievable tragedy.
RELATED:
#3
Final score:
65points
#5
Final score:
60points
Amber Shewalter 9 years ago
These photos make you think about how war can destroy things in an instant that took months or years to construct. And when it's a person who's destroyed, there's no way to "rebuild."
#6
Final score:
57points
HaRiKhIlZi 9 years ago
My grandparents born in there.. It breaks my heart see how destroyed this city is ????????
#7
Final score:
51points
#8
Final score:
38points
#10
Final score:
36points
Peter Atkin 9 years ago
Such a beautiful country, what a waist. My heart felt sympathy to you all past and present.
#11
Final score:
28points
Douglas 5 years ago
Yes, I had not realised how wealthy the country was, though the 'old' pictures don't show the beggars who were in the back streets, or the poverty that Assad had caused among many of the rural population.
Load More Replies...
anonymousdouchebag69420 9 years ago
urbs Anonymousum non delectat. "pestam! fucifam!" ego sum inquit.
याङ्सुम्मु सुभानि सुब्बा 9 years ago
We are monsters :( at least this is what I felt after seeing this :(
Donald Murray 9 years ago
More bombing till there is nothing ĺeft but photos. God bless the United States. Donald Murray
#12
Final score:
28points
#13
Final score:
26points
Nancy Parker 9 years ago
My brain actually cannot accept this information. The destruction is quite inconceivable.
#14
Final score:
23points
#17
Final score:
21points
MIR Sajjad Mehdi 9 years ago
What we see in pictures is only collateral damages, what can't be seen is a lot more; human sufferings, innocent people killed including women and children. Hospitals, schools and other educational institutions, place of worship ect. Displaced persons facing other brutalities of all sorts. Why all these sufferings to a country which was considered a peaceful place to live and no record of human rights violations. Then why all this continues to go on and on, what the united nation and the civilized world is doing, what is the hidden agenda behind the brutal human sufferings?
#18
Final score:
20points
Jennifer Davis 9 years ago
Some of the oldest Christian churches and Christian people are in Syria.
#20
Final score:
15points
Lisa Mellis 6 years ago
Donald this was an absolute crime against humanity. I can only assume you are uneducated.
#21
Final score:
15points
#22
Final score:
15points
Kim Eojin 5 years ago (edited)
I live in Korea, and that Kia car made me realize how recent the "before" pictures were.. you STILL see those cars rolling around in Korea in shiny condition. It's difficult to believe that such a prosperous country is in such ruins now, until you see the one thing that pours the reality into you. I thought the before pictures were from the 1990s.
#24
Final score:
14points
#25
Final score:
14points
Ia Ma 4 years ago
I am American and I have wanted to go to Syria for my whole life because if the amazing and incredible history there. I went to Ireland and stood in ruins where humans were traced back to have lived there in the year 3,000 BC 3000 years before “Christ”. It was your country that gave safe havens for “terrorists” I use that word in quotations because we can spend decades defining and debating what that means but to me what it means is the first safe haven for dangerous people to go out beyond their walls to other countries and kill innocent civilians. Yeah sure it it unsafe for the innocent people that live there but think first to blame your own government for protecting these dangerous people then the countries who are victims of these attacks who have said no more against the irresponsible and incomprehensible dangerous done. If you really think the Americans or the cia or the Jews are mindless psychopaths and killsheet orders how did the names get there in the first place?
#26
Final score:
14points
claire wright 8 years ago
Really depressing looking through these. What was a very prosperous country now looks like a building site. I am so terribly sorry to be from 1 of the countries that caused this. We should have left well alone instead of all the time thinking we know better.
#27
Final score:
13points
anonymousdouchebag69420 9 years ago
Reminds me of the Maze Runner Scorch Trials in the movie. BTDubbs, the movie was terrible, book much better.
#28
Final score:
11points
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What do you think ?
lis barros 9 years ago
It's amazing and at the same time so sad to see what Syrians and its unique heritage has been through. Thank you Hanna Karim for don't let us forget Syria is the acient home town from all of us. I have been there was. I am looking for to come back
Susanna Vesna 9 years ago
This is how "Importing Democracy" looks like! Someone should make a post about Libya & Iraq too! Someone rightly stated- what benefit did this war bring to Syrian people? With Assad or against Assad- was it worth it?!
Julie Julie 9 years ago
This is so heartbreaking. How can humans do this to each other. Why do we feel the need to impose our views and beliefs and preferred ways to others? Can't we just be accepting of the world and the differences that exist in it?
Grace Barclay 9 years ago
Through choice, I am not a religious person. I do not follow a god. I am a deeply spiritual person and I accept all human beings. What I see on a daily basis reading newspapers and editorials online and hardcopies, tears my spirit and soul apart. I keep fighting for all people suffering from injustice. I cannot look away. My spirit and my soul repairs itself because I choose to see that the billions of people on this earth are more good. I choose to see the good in people. To the survivors of Aleppo, a city I have read so much about and always wished to visit, I wish you peace, love and hope. Do not douse your own inner spirit.
Load More Replies...
Godfrey Coppinger 9 years ago
My first thought was: People lived there. Not anymore. They weren't just buildings, they were homes and businesses and places of worship. Not anymore.
Aaron Pályi 9 years ago
Powerful, unfortunate and really sad. What took centuries to get going and flourish, be destoyed and dimolished in seconds... and those innocent lives taken... damn our world.. damn the high forces who play with human life as kids with toy soldiers! :/
Lucie English 9 years ago
It's so sad.. All these lives that were lost just for the sake of Assad... Life is a thing that everyone deserves to live.
Stelea Alexandru 9 years ago
Lucie ...don't believe all that is served to you trough mass media. This situation is so complex that even the ones that started this don't always know who is who. You blame it on Assad because this is what you should think. I'm really curious what Syrians think...and who do they blame. As I could see is that Assad builded a prosperous country and tried to be free of US and Russia influence. It's the same script as in Lebanon... but it's my opinion and I have no access to any conclusive information. We only get served...
Load More Replies...
Patrick Tangney 9 years ago
I wish I could live in a world where people could live in peace, heartbreaking to see this :(
Talise Snyder 9 years ago
exactly. people will do so much more to help a broken country if it's in europe, or people are white.
Load More Replies...
Angelina Russo 9 years ago
And to think many people believe we are doing good for the world. And look how beautiful Syria was before all the destruction.
Anastacia Burns 9 years ago
Dear God, when will it stop? So many lives lost. So much beauty gone. Only a psychopath would destroy his country and his people and call himself a ruler. A ruler of what, the dead and destroyed? One day Syria will rebuild for sure. Hate can't sustain itself forever.
David Rolfsson 7 years ago
Do you even for one second believe that the syrian government wanted this? It was the US and their US-saudi backed terrorist groups that did this. And as you say, "only a psychopath" Assad is may be narcissist, but the psychopaths are the neocons. Look it up if you aren't familiar with that name.
Load More Replies...
Michel Guntern 9 years ago
I so wanted to visit Syria. I hope America and Britain will help rebuild this all.
Sally Brite 9 years ago
It should've been called "What the US Did to the Largest City in Syria".
Oliver Toth 9 years ago
"It was marked by the Syrian army’s use of barrel bombs dropped from helicopters, killing thousands of people" Do you even realize that most damage on the pictures(citadel, hotel, mosque) was never under rebel control to get bombed by barrel bombs?
Herlina Lubis 9 years ago
May Allah keep you're all in sabr, aamiin. I feel so much sad and anger to see all the destruction. Be safe please.
Andriy Chemyrtan 2 weeks ago
That's what russians did to this beautiful country, bombing it, same as they are doing now in Ukraine
Cassie Metivier 3 years ago
So heartbroken 💔 seeing this unnecessary unbelievable human atrocities a country just demolished and for what reason there is no reason to ever make any of this ok... Being of Syrian heritage I'll never get to visit the country my grandparents were born in.. I have relatives who I don't even know who I probably will never have a chance to know now
MATTHEW HAMM 5 years ago
This is sad, just sad to know this isn't done by natural, no this is done by war and violent behaviors. Just sad.
Abdulbaset Darwish 5 years ago
The thing that gets me pissed of the most is that I'm Syrian and that my country is changed into destruction. I hope it ends really soon. Btw you should make another one about how people are leaving now and why a lot of us left the country and why the rest didn't.
Aldona Sankowska 5 years ago
It Breaks my heart. I lived and worked in Damascus many years ago. Have some friends there and I even don't know if they are still alive. And Damascus was the most beautiful city I've seen in my life. Great, friendly and very helpful people. Tears in my eyes.
Sarah Rogers 6 years ago
The devastation was so bad that the color of the sky was different in many of the before and after photos. Now try taking pictures that were taken under the same conditions. Beautiful nighttime photos aren't going to look the same on a cloudy day; photos shot on a clear sunny day aren't going to look the same when the after photo is shot on a cloudy day. Even the different angles can have an influencing affect on viewers. I am not trying to downplay the devastation but the photographer isn't exactly being honest here.
Alex Certov 7 years ago
God bless America, we are the chosen, another country is filled with demoncrazy
Halvor Sagen 8 years ago
You can see children in Europe, America and many other countries PLAY war! And then the kids in Syria, who goes through this and actually take a part in the war themselves! Some children do NOT play war:(
Mia Nakano 8 years ago
This is what military interventions do. They destabilize countries and create civil wars.
Swapneel Bhattacharyya 9 years ago
WILL THE PEOPLE OF SYRIA WILL LEARN FROM IT - TO LIVE PEACEFULLY AND RELISH THE GOOD DAYS RATHER THAN KILL EACH OTHER IN THE NAME OF ALLAH. KEEP RELIGION ASIDE AND LIVE IN HARMONY -- WHICH SEEMS NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE WHEN EVEN A SINGLE PERSON WITH THE MENTALITY OF ISIS AND PRESIDENT ASAD IS ALIVE
Georgia Stergiadis 9 years ago
It's sad to see that wars still occur. My question is, what do people gain from such atrocity? We need peace, not war. War destroys not only countries, but it destroys the lives of us humans and animals, which are two of the most important things. I wish there was a way for everyone in the world, get together, and stop war in its tracks. My thoughts go out to those people who have lost those closest to them. I hope Syria can rebuild soon.
Donna M 9 years ago
I've been to Iraq twice... Baghdad is so torn apart it's amazing... once such a beautiful city...the Clover Leaf is completely destroyed...the green zone is decent because it's guarded... to be one of those that destroyed such beautiful cities, I apologize. These pix broke my heart. Such a beautiful country torn apart by hate.
Teresa W-S 9 years ago
Like the grat MG used to sign: "what's going on? " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-kA3UtBj4M
Richard Petch 9 years ago
No matter what it will never ever be the same in that country, I used to love their new potatoes when they came into season, and the Turkish, they are better than our British new potatoes even though they are grow with English/scottish seed potatoes shipped from the UK.
Andre Nehme 9 years ago
I'm so sorry about this :( it's the war my dear!!! this what happened to Lebanon before and still :( but after all life goes on
Cynthia Chou 9 years ago
Extremely sad. Wish I had a chance to see these places before they were destroyed
Anna Salerno 9 years ago
My, my our president keeps insisting that Islam is a peaceful religion It isn't a religion at all it is a complete political system that even tries to control what one thinks. The savages over there in the muslim countries have been destroying things, places and killing people for centuries!! Those savages have no respect for anything except their goats!
Notchimine Mette 9 years ago
My Muslim friends say these people are a sect. What they believe has nothing to do with Islam.
Load More Replies...
Quentin Poulsen 9 years ago
My view on this is that the Western media narrative blaming ISIS for attacks all over the world is entirely implausible. A decade ago it was Al Qaeda, but that one wore thin and, indeed, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook revealed it as a charade (just before his death). So Al Qaeda has been rebranded as "ISIS." What does that mean? A blanket term to cover both the Jihadists fighting in the Middle East and radicalized groups and individuals who commit terrorist attacks in the name of Jihad abroad. The objective is to conjure up an image of a highly organized Islamic army in the Middle East which presents a direct threat to the West, and thereby justifying an ongoing American presence in the region and the astronomical budget this entails. So what's the endgame? In the short term the objective seems to be to control the oil industry in the region, break up the Shia Crescent and isolate Iran. This can only be achieved by removing Assad, one way or another. But after the shambles of
kat lia 9 years ago
sad, can't help but shed tears especially to the innocents. this isis has really no regard for lives of the people around them.
Maurits Hagdorn 9 years ago
Maybe I am a bad person, but this does so much more to me than seeing people die... This is something that has survived for thousands of yrs
Lester Kraszny 9 years ago
You mean, what US backed terrorists did to Syria. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-09/us-government-reveals-3000-ton-delivery-weapons-and-ammo-al-qaeda-linked-syrian-rebe
Sebastian Ionescu 9 years ago
People, spread the message of where these war policies come from. Want the Middle Eastern wars to end? Then the world has to get together and seek out this place that is responsible for the current war policies. American Israel Public Affairs Committee WebsiteDirections Public Services Address: 251 H St NW, Washington, DC 20001 Phone: (202) 639-5200 THIS IS WHERE JEWS INFESTING AMERICA GET TOGETHER IN ORDER TO COME UP WITH WAR POLICIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST AS WELL AS STEAL BILLIONS OF AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS TO FUND ISRAEL AND THESE PERPETUAL WARS. You want this to end. END AIPAC. NOW YOU KNOW.
Sebastian Ionescu 9 years ago
Courtesy of JEWISH ZIONIST RUN "AMERICAN" GOVERNMENT. It's time for the American people to wake up to what their zionist government is doing.
lis barros 9 years ago
It's amazing and at the same time so sad to see what Syrians and its unique heritage has been through. Thank you Hanna Karim for don't let us forget Syria is the acient home town from all of us. I have been there was. I am looking for to come back
Susanna Vesna 9 years ago
This is how "Importing Democracy" looks like! Someone should make a post about Libya & Iraq too! Someone rightly stated- what benefit did this war bring to Syrian people? With Assad or against Assad- was it worth it?!
Julie Julie 9 years ago
This is so heartbreaking. How can humans do this to each other. Why do we feel the need to impose our views and beliefs and preferred ways to others? Can't we just be accepting of the world and the differences that exist in it?
Grace Barclay 9 years ago
Through choice, I am not a religious person. I do not follow a god. I am a deeply spiritual person and I accept all human beings. What I see on a daily basis reading newspapers and editorials online and hardcopies, tears my spirit and soul apart. I keep fighting for all people suffering from injustice. I cannot look away. My spirit and my soul repairs itself because I choose to see that the billions of people on this earth are more good. I choose to see the good in people. To the survivors of Aleppo, a city I have read so much about and always wished to visit, I wish you peace, love and hope. Do not douse your own inner spirit.
Load More Replies... Godfrey Coppinger 9 years ago
My first thought was: People lived there. Not anymore. They weren't just buildings, they were homes and businesses and places of worship. Not anymore.
Aaron Pályi 9 years ago
Powerful, unfortunate and really sad. What took centuries to get going and flourish, be destoyed and dimolished in seconds... and those innocent lives taken... damn our world.. damn the high forces who play with human life as kids with toy soldiers! :/
Lucie English 9 years ago
It's so sad.. All these lives that were lost just for the sake of Assad... Life is a thing that everyone deserves to live.
Stelea Alexandru 9 years ago
Lucie ...don't believe all that is served to you trough mass media. This situation is so complex that even the ones that started this don't always know who is who. You blame it on Assad because this is what you should think. I'm really curious what Syrians think...and who do they blame. As I could see is that Assad builded a prosperous country and tried to be free of US and Russia influence. It's the same script as in Lebanon... but it's my opinion and I have no access to any conclusive information. We only get served...
Load More Replies... Patrick Tangney 9 years ago
I wish I could live in a world where people could live in peace, heartbreaking to see this :(
Talise Snyder 9 years ago
exactly. people will do so much more to help a broken country if it's in europe, or people are white.
Load More Replies... Angelina Russo 9 years ago
And to think many people believe we are doing good for the world. And look how beautiful Syria was before all the destruction.
Anastacia Burns 9 years ago
Dear God, when will it stop? So many lives lost. So much beauty gone. Only a psychopath would destroy his country and his people and call himself a ruler. A ruler of what, the dead and destroyed? One day Syria will rebuild for sure. Hate can't sustain itself forever.
David Rolfsson 7 years ago
Do you even for one second believe that the syrian government wanted this? It was the US and their US-saudi backed terrorist groups that did this. And as you say, "only a psychopath" Assad is may be narcissist, but the psychopaths are the neocons. Look it up if you aren't familiar with that name.
Load More Replies... Michel Guntern 9 years ago
I so wanted to visit Syria. I hope America and Britain will help rebuild this all.
Sally Brite 9 years ago
It should've been called "What the US Did to the Largest City in Syria".
Oliver Toth 9 years ago
"It was marked by the Syrian army’s use of barrel bombs dropped from helicopters, killing thousands of people" Do you even realize that most damage on the pictures(citadel, hotel, mosque) was never under rebel control to get bombed by barrel bombs?
Herlina Lubis 9 years ago
May Allah keep you're all in sabr, aamiin. I feel so much sad and anger to see all the destruction. Be safe please.
Andriy Chemyrtan 2 weeks ago
That's what russians did to this beautiful country, bombing it, same as they are doing now in Ukraine
Cassie Metivier 3 years ago
So heartbroken 💔 seeing this unnecessary unbelievable human atrocities a country just demolished and for what reason there is no reason to ever make any of this ok... Being of Syrian heritage I'll never get to visit the country my grandparents were born in.. I have relatives who I don't even know who I probably will never have a chance to know now
MATTHEW HAMM 5 years ago
This is sad, just sad to know this isn't done by natural, no this is done by war and violent behaviors. Just sad.
Abdulbaset Darwish 5 years ago
The thing that gets me pissed of the most is that I'm Syrian and that my country is changed into destruction. I hope it ends really soon. Btw you should make another one about how people are leaving now and why a lot of us left the country and why the rest didn't.
Aldona Sankowska 5 years ago
It Breaks my heart. I lived and worked in Damascus many years ago. Have some friends there and I even don't know if they are still alive. And Damascus was the most beautiful city I've seen in my life. Great, friendly and very helpful people. Tears in my eyes.
Sarah Rogers 6 years ago
The devastation was so bad that the color of the sky was different in many of the before and after photos. Now try taking pictures that were taken under the same conditions. Beautiful nighttime photos aren't going to look the same on a cloudy day; photos shot on a clear sunny day aren't going to look the same when the after photo is shot on a cloudy day. Even the different angles can have an influencing affect on viewers. I am not trying to downplay the devastation but the photographer isn't exactly being honest here.
Alex Certov 7 years ago
God bless America, we are the chosen, another country is filled with demoncrazy
Halvor Sagen 8 years ago
You can see children in Europe, America and many other countries PLAY war! And then the kids in Syria, who goes through this and actually take a part in the war themselves! Some children do NOT play war:(
Mia Nakano 8 years ago
This is what military interventions do. They destabilize countries and create civil wars.
Swapneel Bhattacharyya 9 years ago
WILL THE PEOPLE OF SYRIA WILL LEARN FROM IT - TO LIVE PEACEFULLY AND RELISH THE GOOD DAYS RATHER THAN KILL EACH OTHER IN THE NAME OF ALLAH. KEEP RELIGION ASIDE AND LIVE IN HARMONY -- WHICH SEEMS NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE WHEN EVEN A SINGLE PERSON WITH THE MENTALITY OF ISIS AND PRESIDENT ASAD IS ALIVE
Georgia Stergiadis 9 years ago
It's sad to see that wars still occur. My question is, what do people gain from such atrocity? We need peace, not war. War destroys not only countries, but it destroys the lives of us humans and animals, which are two of the most important things. I wish there was a way for everyone in the world, get together, and stop war in its tracks. My thoughts go out to those people who have lost those closest to them. I hope Syria can rebuild soon.
Donna M 9 years ago
I've been to Iraq twice... Baghdad is so torn apart it's amazing... once such a beautiful city...the Clover Leaf is completely destroyed...the green zone is decent because it's guarded... to be one of those that destroyed such beautiful cities, I apologize. These pix broke my heart. Such a beautiful country torn apart by hate.
Teresa W-S 9 years ago
Like the grat MG used to sign: "what's going on? " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-kA3UtBj4M
Richard Petch 9 years ago
No matter what it will never ever be the same in that country, I used to love their new potatoes when they came into season, and the Turkish, they are better than our British new potatoes even though they are grow with English/scottish seed potatoes shipped from the UK.
Andre Nehme 9 years ago
I'm so sorry about this :( it's the war my dear!!! this what happened to Lebanon before and still :( but after all life goes on
Cynthia Chou 9 years ago
Extremely sad. Wish I had a chance to see these places before they were destroyed
Anna Salerno 9 years ago
My, my our president keeps insisting that Islam is a peaceful religion It isn't a religion at all it is a complete political system that even tries to control what one thinks. The savages over there in the muslim countries have been destroying things, places and killing people for centuries!! Those savages have no respect for anything except their goats!
Notchimine Mette 9 years ago
My Muslim friends say these people are a sect. What they believe has nothing to do with Islam.
Load More Replies... Quentin Poulsen 9 years ago
My view on this is that the Western media narrative blaming ISIS for attacks all over the world is entirely implausible. A decade ago it was Al Qaeda, but that one wore thin and, indeed, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook revealed it as a charade (just before his death). So Al Qaeda has been rebranded as "ISIS." What does that mean? A blanket term to cover both the Jihadists fighting in the Middle East and radicalized groups and individuals who commit terrorist attacks in the name of Jihad abroad. The objective is to conjure up an image of a highly organized Islamic army in the Middle East which presents a direct threat to the West, and thereby justifying an ongoing American presence in the region and the astronomical budget this entails. So what's the endgame? In the short term the objective seems to be to control the oil industry in the region, break up the Shia Crescent and isolate Iran. This can only be achieved by removing Assad, one way or another. But after the shambles of
kat lia 9 years ago
sad, can't help but shed tears especially to the innocents. this isis has really no regard for lives of the people around them.
Maurits Hagdorn 9 years ago
Maybe I am a bad person, but this does so much more to me than seeing people die... This is something that has survived for thousands of yrs
Lester Kraszny 9 years ago
You mean, what US backed terrorists did to Syria. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-09/us-government-reveals-3000-ton-delivery-weapons-and-ammo-al-qaeda-linked-syrian-rebe
Sebastian Ionescu 9 years ago
People, spread the message of where these war policies come from. Want the Middle Eastern wars to end? Then the world has to get together and seek out this place that is responsible for the current war policies. American Israel Public Affairs Committee WebsiteDirections Public Services Address: 251 H St NW, Washington, DC 20001 Phone: (202) 639-5200 THIS IS WHERE JEWS INFESTING AMERICA GET TOGETHER IN ORDER TO COME UP WITH WAR POLICIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST AS WELL AS STEAL BILLIONS OF AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS TO FUND ISRAEL AND THESE PERPETUAL WARS. You want this to end. END AIPAC. NOW YOU KNOW.
Sebastian Ionescu 9 years ago
Courtesy of JEWISH ZIONIST RUN "AMERICAN" GOVERNMENT. It's time for the American people to wake up to what their zionist government is doing.
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