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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.
Nour Ekhlasi 9 years ago
it's nice to see someone has visited my city before war <3 I wish everyone had the chance to see it before this destruction!
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Grant Bussell 9 years ago
Since I travelled around the world in 1985 I've often said that Syrians were the friendliest and most hospitable people of any country I'd been :-(
Ronnie Douglas 4 years ago
This hurts my heart. I do not understand how 1 persons ego would allow them to turn their city to rubble. Just give the people freedom and return back to the beautiful city it was
Wayne Beesley 9 years ago
Heart breaking and appalling that the world has allowed and continues to allow this to happen
RELATED:
#2
Final score:
68points
Desmond Cheeks 6 years ago
“There’s death all around us. Everywhere we look. 1.8 people kill themselves every second. We just don’t pay attention. Until we do.”
Gëna Froggatt 8 years ago
Remember Darius Danesh on the UK Poo Idol ? The one who slaughtered the Britney song? Well he used to bang on about being Syrian and say he was from Aleppo, even though he spent many years in Scotland. Since this started he changed his surname to Campbell and now bangs on about Scotland being his home and never mentions Aleppo or his real surname.
#3
Final score:
65points
Andrew Wozniak 9 years ago
It proves the dictators power over the people and shows the extent he is willing to go to stay in power.
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Charlotte Macleod 8 years ago
It was truly a beautiful city and I'm sure it was filled with beautiful people. My heart breaks.
#4
Final score:
63points
Ana Vasileva 9 years ago
Not to discount the destruction and tragedy, but these are not the same - square on top, octagonal at the bottom.
Rebecca Hicks 7 years ago
The one on the top is not square. And the one on the bottom is a hexagon too-it looks like an octagon at first, but if you look at the base carefully then you'll see that a couple of what look like its pillars can't be, and are actually from the structure behind it.
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Frimpong Poku-Dankwa 9 years ago
When I saw the BEFORE picture, I kept whispering "no no no no no" to myself hoping they would have spared this one...
Patrick Burdiss 1 year ago
Why? When all is said and done why? God gave us a beautiful world, why do we do our best to destroy it.
#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."
Angeliki Papadopoulou 9 years ago
It's not the matter of how long the construction took, that's not the issue. It's the architectural heritage that"s been into pieces, the nation's history that's been scrapped away...with no turning back.
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Laith Elmoghrabi 9 years ago
I stayed at this hotel 6 or 7 years ago with my family and my kids played with the goldfish in the small pool in the centre of this hall. This is heartbreaking
Valle Gashi 6 years ago
It's a hoax photo! Before you can se a door and two windows in different size. The after photo u clearly can see 4 windows in exactly same size. The explosions dont do that kind of fine craftsmen work!!
#6
Final score:
57points
HaRiKhIlZi 9 years ago
My grandparents born in there.. It breaks my heart see how destroyed this city is ????????
Simeon Badev 9 years ago
It's a terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible situation...
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Brendan Kilcoyne 6 years ago
This is horrifying. I visited Aleppo twice in the 90's, people were the friendliest I have ever encountered, and it was wonderful. This is appalling, I am so saddened to see these photos.
Lukas Gajkowski 9 years ago
Looks like Warsaw and most of Poland after WW2 wawa-58028...d0d5ad.jpg 
#7
Final score:
51points
Sumaiya Taleb 5 years ago
My country Lebanon got bombed today, I think for sure its not an accident.
Divwya Rai Rai 5 years ago
only USA and Europe is responsible for huge mankind and Property loss so sad...
Stooz Mals 5 years ago
you've got to be joking. who are you to point fingers? are we not all human beings capable of madness and destruction??? our minds know nothing of our countries or race- I could adopt ignorance and say the same about Indian cultures or China but I know damn well that a man across the ocean is just as capable of evil as a man standing next to me in America. This is the same mindset that causes this horror- fear, judgement, and separation. Shame on you.
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Saurabh Sengupta 8 years ago
IRAQ AND SYRIA NOW LOOK LIKE JUST ANOTHER LOCATION OF SCI_FI MOVIES
#8
Final score:
38points
John Tottingham 9 years ago
I can show simular pictures from Lebanon and tripoli and Baghdad and many cities around the middle east. Perhaps the United States should end it's government building programs and trying to shove democracy down the throats of every country in the middle east. We have supported antigovernment forces in all of these and many more countries throughout the middle east and elsewhere in the world. Why? What have we accomplished?
Luis Payano 9 years ago
Its like watching a horror movie, except its real. To think that generations of hard working people build all those beautiful structures, and now they are gone just like them. This was build for many generations to enjoy, not for governments and radicals to destroy.
Ronnie Douglas 4 years ago
This place was beautiful. So crazy 1 person was willing to turn it into a war torn city
Josh Snyder 9 years ago
The green trees remind us that life goes on. Rome is not the same city it was 2000 years ago. Humanity tenaciously survives.
#9
Final score:
37points
Jean Henderson 9 years ago
After the 2nd World War I thought I'd never see such devastation again in my life and I'm shocked that no one ever seems to learn!
Jeanne Riggall 9 years ago
It's unbearable, I almost can't look at them, someone get it stopped, please.
Jackie Quinn 9 years ago
These pictures show the insanity of war. What is gained when so much is lost. Utterly depressing.
Angela Reed 9 years ago
What is it all about? Such a shame beautiful historic city in ruins and all the people misplaced...really shocking to see the news everyday with no end to all this. Please find a resolution to all this and let the innocent people return to their city to rebuild their homes and lives.
Eva Honerkamp 9 years ago
Die Bilder zeigen wie wunderschön es mal war jeder der das sieht will dort nicht mehr hin. Es ist Traurig das dass letzte Mittel Krieg verwendet wird soviel unschuldige sind davon betroffen denn die die den Krieg anfangen sind in schönen Büros und nicht an der Front denn müssten sie das gäbe es kein Krieg
Margaret Cromack 9 years ago
I also assuming the votes are up arrow like and down arrow dislike the after pictures.
Margaret Cromack 9 years ago
It's such a waste of real estate. Was beautiful before now just junk. I can only imagine the tragedy of human and animal life. War benefits no one. Some people profit yes.
#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.
Shereen Dardari 9 years ago
Breaks my heart to see my country like this :(
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Angela Coleman 9 years ago
It breaks my heart to see so much devastation to beautiful historical sites and to think of the suffering of the Syrian people. Hate and fear and power; a lethal combination
Sonia Nordlander 9 years ago
I feel such sadness and utter anger at how my own country is handling this and has the audacity to close its borders to the refugees. Can't even imagine what it would be like to see my home, my town and country destroyed like this, having to escape and then be turned away everywhere. Feel such sorrow and shame ????
David Longfils 9 years ago
I can't believe the destruction and for what? It's no wonder the Syrians are fleeing.
Lu Taru Saari 9 years ago
It happened not so long ago in Croatia and Bosnia... only few (international) cared then, only few cares now for Syria. Time passes, history repeats itself with a little modification, people never learn from it...
#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.
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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
Christy Forth 9 years ago
The places it hit just looked like homes. Its terrible how this will impact them for so many decades.
Mary Chambers 4 years ago
I hate mankind... it’s heartbreaking to see our senselessness continue...war and destruction are never the answer. I am ashamed 🥺🤭
#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
Linda Abbott 9 years ago
Each and every one of these photos are really sad....and for what? What could be worth this?
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#15
Final score:
21points
#16
Final score:
21points
Shereen Dardari 9 years ago
It's a joke, every country in the world is fighting with each other in our land and on the expense of the Syrian blood. And then people complain about the refugees!!!
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#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.
Angela Harding 6 years ago
and they are being bombed by so called Christians and its so called Christian country's that don't want the refuges to come to there country's ask yourselves would this have happen if the west and its allies had stayed out of the middle east in the first place
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#19
Final score:
19points
anonymousdouchebag69420 9 years ago
I don't know bout you guys, but we shouldn't be concentration on being politically correct. Just let the gays and stuff like that have their marrage other countries, so we ca focus our concentration on things like this, saving trees, and not driving ourselves to extinction (*cough* global warming *cough* logging *cough*)
Samantha Redding 6 years ago
about* concentrating* marriage* can* Also, this isn't about being politically correct or anything. It started because they wanted political freedom. This all started because the people wanted the right of self government. Pro-democracy demonstrations erupted in cities, which inspired the group now known as the Arab Spring. I agree with Josie LH because we all can focus on more than one thing at a time. It's called multi-tasking, you should try it some time. You don't have to bring in other worldly problems like global warming or logging or saving trees. Also gays and "stuff like that" are people too and don't deserve to be disrespected by people like you. I think you missed the bus, because you just got schooled. By a 7th grader. You're welcome.
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Siphokazi Sphosh 1 year ago
Why would people destroy such beauty and kill others ....may God protect them
King3895ase 8 years ago
This doesn't even look 0.1% as it looked before. Why would people do this? It's so mean and destroying over millions of peoples lives.
#20
Final score:
15points
Lisa Mellis 6 years ago
Donald this was an absolute crime against humanity. I can only assume you are uneducated.
Aazam Parvez 9 years ago
All super powers in the world felt the same and yet none remain the same ...the time will turn and once the mighty empire will taste it's own ruins
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Final score:
15points
Ada Wójtowicz 9 years ago
I'm not sure what umbilical cord select the photographs yes or no . I note that because the space in the photographs were beautiful. But what the war did to these beautiful places it is terrible.
#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.
Clint Adams 3 years ago
Assad's father did the same thing in 1982. Parts of the city were bombed so bad it was easier to crush the ruble with street rollers. It actually impressed how the city came back. It's a sad story none the less. ✌️
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#24
Final score:
14points
Oc Ocfris 6 years ago
Kaveh with all due respect, the pictures are of the same places before and after war. Really, they are. It’s hard to believe but the photog did a good job in photographing the same structures. This isn’t an attempt to fool us, nor am I trying to antagonize you or anyone else
Joy Kos-parfait 8 years ago
im trying to read and inform myself after all these years, i dont understand what had this helped
#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?
Mortimer Crowgull 4 years ago
I'm sorry but you apparently still believe 3 buildings defied the laws of physics and free fell in a total collapse from tin cans. If you look into it you'll discover that they wanted to do EXACTLY THE SAME THING in Miami in the 60s. Your government is more dangerous than ANY terrorist group.
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Ana Almeida 8 years ago
Men can built soo much beautiful things...for many years...and then, in a few minutes they can destroy all of it... for what?! Soo sad :(((
Douglas 5 years ago
Unlike the similar appearance of towns in Germany and Japan after WW2, the destruction here was not the purpose, generally. The destruction was a side-effect of people wanting to defend themselves, their wives, and their children from a dangerous and oppressive regime. And the answering military power, backed up by foreign arms supplies.
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Akshay Choudhary 8 years ago
Really disappointing to see this pictures. Terrorism is danger for whole humanity. Really sad to see this picture
Abreu Aprendente 7 years ago
There is more than terrorism involved in this, boy. Actually the government has called those who opposed it "terrorists", when it was the government which supposedly has attacked the people with gas.
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#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.
Joy Kos-parfait 8 years ago
i don't understand why outside countries can to bomb them also. whyyyy this don't make sense.
keith berry 6 years ago
Should have not fought Assad. Your pride let you not accept his government. Now your country is ruined
#28
Final score:
11points
Mariana Sánchez 9 years ago
When I see this pictures I imagine all the poeple who used ro hace their lives around this places and I wonder about how are they nos, If still alive. Its so painfully sad. And to think than some people is annoyed by the refugees and their possible impact on their counties. What is a small change compared to this? We are all brothers and the whole world is changed by this destruction either we look to the opposite side ir not.
hdj81Vlimited 3 years ago
Look close tot the refugees in europe, they are very litle syrians. almost all are from black afrika, wich HAS NOTHING to do with syria, so are they NO REFUGEES.....
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Josee Lawes-Greengrass 3 years ago
Only a few weeks ago I saw, for the first time how Russia conducted war in Aleppo. The west had not seen pictures like this before. It is only because of Elon Musk's tech ability that we are seeing pictures of The Ukraine now. Russia thought it could wage war in the same way now, but we are seeing it in great detail from satellites, even a man being shot while riding his bike. If only we had pictures of Aleppo and Grozny we would have known how ghastly the Russian idea of warfare is.
Linda Newhouse 9 years ago
So much beauty and history gone. So many peoples lives destroyed. I just want to cry. Those people suffer so much. And as the saying goes, it is all so senseless.
Mel Whatever 9 years ago
Its like living in hell..how can humans do that to one each other ..its so ugly..makes me feel to die ..
hdj81Vlimited 3 years ago
Its because syrian country didn't want any longer paid in US$ for the oil. this is the reason. and the gaspipeline from iran to europe..... they did the same with libia and khadaffi. and venezuela, all wanted no longer accept US $. Thats why. IF the rest follows the USA is no longer the ruler off the world. EVERYTHING is trade in US$.... think about it. USA has the power to PRINT as much $ they need to buy weapons and pay soldiers... with printed money......
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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.
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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...
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Patrick Tangney 9 years ago
I wish I could live in a world where people could live in peace, heartbreaking to see this :(
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 :(
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