Monday, January 04, 2016

SYRIA - Inside Aleppo

"Daily airstrikes and specter of ISIS loom over Aleppo civilians" PBS NewsHour 1/1/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The plight of refugees fleeing the war in Syria has been well documented across the last year, but what is life like for those who stayed behind?  Jeffrey Brown talks to journalist and activist Rami Jarrah about how civilians are living in Aleppo.

RAMI JARRAH, Journalist and Activist:  This is the place of the attack yesterday where the Russian airstrike took place on Central Aleppo.  This is called the Kalako (ph) area.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  Footage captured by Syrian journalist and activist Rami Jarrah in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and one of the world’s most ancient urban centers.

RAMI JARRAH:  A child was caught here under the rubble yesterday, and his father here was screaming for the people to get him out.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Today, it’s a scene of destruction and despair, after nearly five years of civil war.

RAMI JARRAH:  All the children have now been taken away.  There are still children here.  The situation is tense at the moment.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Jarrah has spent the last weeks in Aleppo documenting the impact of Russian bombing.

Russia says it’s attacking terrorist groups, including ISIS.  Jarrah and Syrian human rights groups say civilians are being targeted and killed, more than 2,000 of them since Russian airstrikes began in September.

I spoke with Rami Jarrah by Skype and began by asking him about those still living in Aleppo, whether they have water, electricity, food, any semblance of normal life.

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