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ALEPPO:
After The Devastation, The Rehabilitation (Part One)
23
April, 2017
Overpass leading from East Aleppo into the city center on the front lines (Photo: Patrick Henningsen@21WIRE)
Patrick
Henningsen
ALEPPO
– For the last five years, everyone has been talking about Aleppo.
I can’t even count how many interviews we’ve conducted, or how
many TV news segments I’ve watched and articles read
– about the battles and sieges in this crucial theatre
which has come to symbolise the long war on Syria.
With
all of this in mind, nothing can really prepare you for the
sheer scale of the devastation visible throughout Syria’s
second largest city.
Fortunately
for us, the journey from Damascus to Aleppo is a lot safer than it
was just a few months ago. Back in December 2016 before the
liberation of Aleppo, travelers were forced to circle around the
city heading northwest before turning south down the infamous
Castello Road, down a perilous stretch of highway known as
“Sniper Alley,” and even less affectionately as the ‘terrorists
rat line’ running from Turkey into northern Syria. For a while,
that was the only way in, as Al Nusra Front and its affiliates
took control of nearly every major artery heading into the
city. Terrorists still control many of the main roads between
Hama and Aleppo and some other roads between Aleppo and the
coastal region of Latakia.
This means that what would
normally be a comfortable three to four hour drive from
Damascus, is now an eight hour journey, which at times might
take you as close as 10 km from ISIS-held territory
while weaving your way into Aleppo from the city’s
eastern countryside.
While
visiting the northern city of Aleppo, you quickly come realise that
the war is still far from over. What the US and the UK still refer to
as “moderate rebels” are still occupying parts of the West Aleppo
countryside and are firing Grad Missiles and mortars into
neighborhoods located on the outskirts of the city.
From our rooftop in the morning, you could see smoke bellowing up in the distance on the outskirts of Aleppo’s city centre (Photo: Patrick Henningsen@21WIRE)
Syrian
and Russian airforce jets were buzzing over our heads while we were
doing a walkthrough of the devastation in East Aleppo. I couldn’t
determine whether or not that strike was a terrorist mortar
or a retaliatory airstrike by Syrian or Russian forces. It was one of
many we could hear and see during our visit.
After a
long drive we eventually arrived downtown that evening in West
Aleppo. There, I had the great pleasure of finally meeting with
French activist and humanitarian, Pierre Le Corf. I had
interviewed him previously for the Sunday
Wire radio
program to talk about his experiences and his work running his
own charity called We
Are Superheroes, as well as his work with war-stricken
families in the city. During the height of the fighting in 2016, he
was supplying families living on the front line with essential
supplies including first aid kits, as well as toys for children.
Following the liberation of East Aleppo in December 2016, Pierre
has continued delivering assistance to families, and by virtue
of listening to them and being there for them, he’s also
delivering some much-needed counseling for them. He is
literally a one man band, operating in one of the most dangerous
conflicts ever. His efforts have been nothing short of heroic.
Even
though the immediate terror threat of shelling from the east has
subsided, Le Corf made a point of reminding us that the threat of
terrorism is still omnipresent in Aleppo. Sitting in a cafe in the
bustling Azaziya district, he showed us where terrorist mortar
strikes and ‘Hell Canon’ gas canister missile attacks had killed
civilians on the side walk, only metres away from where we were
sitting.
“I
wish you could’ve been here 5 months ago, to see what it was
like. One moment you’d be sitting here, drinking coffee and talking
with people, and the next second people are dying on the pavement
right over there. I can still see it, very clear in my mind. But
unfortunately, it happened so often that an hour after the attack,
people would just carry on with their daily business. It’s
really incredible.”
Danger,
Clear and Present
Le
Corf explained that although the bombardment of civilians has
tailed-off in central Aleppo, other terrorist attacks are
still ongoing in the city, including suicide bombs, and daily
rocket attacks in other parts of the city.
“Still
today, all the entrances to the city are bombed nearly everyday –
rockets, gas canisters, mortars.”
Not
surprisingly, this daily reality of terror reigning down on the
civilian population has been completely blacked-out of all coverage
from both Western and Gulf state media outlets – the same
countries who continue to support what politicians and pundits
still disingenuously refer to as “rebel opposition groups.”
“The
people here have suffered a lot. Still, people keep dying from the
rockets and bombs – it’s very difficult for the families (in
Aleppo) because they still cannot yet escape from the war. They’ve
been facing it from the start, and they keep facing it here. When you
see kids dying, whether it’s 4 months ago, or just now, it’s the
same. It’s exactly the same as before 4 months ago,” said Le
Corf.
“Just
inside the city centre, maybe they can forget a little bit about the
war, but the people are still concerned.”
“The
people are more tired. It’s like the war will never finish for
them.”
The last tree standing following severe damage near the front lines in Shaar, in East Aleppo (Photo: Patrick Henningsen@21WIRE)
Norwegian journalist
Tommy Soltvedt talking to 21WIRE’s Vanessa Beeley amidst the
rubble in Shaar, in East Aleppo (Photo: Patrick
Henningsen@21WIRE)
Despite
the insistence by most western journalists and military
industrial PR men like US Senator John McCain – that
somehow The
Battle of Aleppo was
born out of ‘peaceful opposition’ protests in 2012. Everyone we
spoke to -residents, Syrian Army personnel and media professionals
all told us the same story: back in the summer of 2012 the city
of Aleppo was literally invaded on multiple fronts by militant
extremists and mercenaries, operating under various banners, starting
with the western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA), the al-Tawhid
Brigade, who were soon followed by home-grown Arar al Sham, and the
Saudi Arabia and Qatari-sponsored Al Nusra Front (al Qaeda in Syria),
ISIS, the Levant Front and others.
It
wasn’t long before terrorist brigades were embedded throughout east
Aleppo and surrounding areas, and throughout the outskirts of the
greater Aleppo city limits. Terrorists occupied government buildings,
schools, and hospitals, and even the historic 12th century Umayyad
Mosque in Aleppo which was tuned into a military command centre by Al
Nusra.
From
2013, Al Nusra and ISIS occupied the Eye and Pediatric Hospital in
Shaar, East Aleppo, which was quickly converted into a Sharia Court
house and an underground prison. The site was run by the ‘Hayaa
al-Sharia’ authority, known by extremists the Hayaa.
When
I looked at all the ISIS literature all over the ground, and all
over the walls, I imagined the suffering of the people in this
city, and then I remembered watching CNN’s very own CFR
mouthpiece, Fareed Zakaria, only last month, with one of his
many ‘Syrian opposition’ guests, a woman who looked into the
camera and claimed that Al Nusra and ISIS were never in
Aleppo as she waxed on about ‘the revolution.’ Of course, Zakaria
had no clue, which seems to be par for the course at the Pentagon’s
premier propaganda mill.
A cursory tour of the ruined Eye Hospital turned up endless ISIS and Al Nusra paraphernalia (Photo: Patrick Henningsen@21WIRE)
Destroyed vehicles parked outside the Eye hospital (Photo: Patrick Henningsen @21WIRE)
Ghost City
The
damage we saw in East Aleppo is practically indescribable, outside of
comparisons to Stalingrad. For the most part, half the city resembles
a dystopic ghost town, although signs of life are beginning to return
to many of the devastated areas.
After
walking through the neighborhood of Shaar, it’s easy to see
where the frontline fighting had spilled into every single side
street and neighborhood. Makeshift barricades were erected
by occupying militants on almost every street entrance.
A blocked off alley way in Shaar, piled high with debris (Photo: Patrick Henningsen@21WIRE).
East Aleppo barricade (Photo: Patrick Henningsen@21WIRE)
According
to our guide and a number of other residents we spoke to, the vast
majority of the damage was inflicted by fighting on the ground –
street by street, block by block – and not from
the air. This is an important point because western media coverage
attributed nearly all of the damage to air strikes by the Syrian Air
Force, and from late 2015 by Russian jets. This was the script
put forward by western media outlets throughout the conflict –
which became the basis of the pretext for ‘rebel’ pleas for
western intervention, and endless calls in the west for a ‘No Fly
Zone,’ or ‘Safe Zones,’ calls which continue to this day.
In
actuality, extensive damage in the heavy fighting areas
around Aleppo was the result of artillery, tank ordinances
and heavy gun fire from both sides, and from terrorist gas
canister ‘Hell Canons’, rockets and bombing. Unlike the terrorist
barrages which were fired randomly into civilian areas, Syrian air
strikes were targeted, as were later Russian strikes. This fact is
fairly self evident after touring the battle zone.
Layramoun
district was home to the infamous Brigade 16 of the Free Syrian Army
(Photo: Patrick Henningsen @21WIRE)
Barrel
Bombs vs Hell Cannons
In
addition to the military front, information warfare
is arguably an even bigger and more complex battle ground
in this protracted conflict.
Egged-on
by the mainstream media, the US and British political
establishment figures quickly adopted the ‘Barrel Bomb’ talking
point as the idiopathic rallying cry for the removal of Syrian
President Bashar al Assad. This elaborate media mythology
construct claims that the Syrian Army have been busy dropping barrel
bombs from
helicopters, intentionally targeting civilians, and especially
schools and hospitals, or so the story went. This was repeated
ad nauseam by caustic US hawks like Senator John McCain and Lindsey
Graham, despite the fact that very few people had actually seen the
barrel bombs in action. Based on the frequency of western barrel bomb
reports, you’d think that these would have been filmed and
analysed, but instead these reports remain mostly anecdotal. What’s
most interesting here, and yet completely ignored by western
mainstream media sources, is that the damage inflicted from
terrorist Hell Cannon strikes appears to be identical to
bromidic tales of the barrel
bomb.
Both are said to have been used often and indiscriminately,
with both featuring a crude metal casing, packed with powerful
explosives and shrapnel, designed to inflict maximum damage. Unlike
the illusive barrel
bombs, footage
of the ‘rebel’ Hell
Cannon in action is easy to find. Rebel-terrorists not only
fired into government-held West Aleppo but also in contested and
‘rebel-held’ areas throughout the Battle of Aleppo. Knowing this,
a responsible journalist might ask the pertinent question: how many
of Aleppo’s alleged ‘barrel bomb’ attacks attributed to the
‘regime’ were actually Hell Cannon strikes made by the
‘rebel opposition’?
After
2012, gas canister Hell Cannons became the weapon of choice for
terrorists, as they shelled residential areas all over Aleppo in a
long-running campaign of terror. In total, upwards of 15,000 Aleppo
residents have died since 2012 from terrorist ordinances, bombs and
gas canister missiles. All of these victims have been documented
by name, with details of their injuries, along with their
family details collated by the Aleppo Medical Association.
Contrast this with the fantastic claims by the US and British-funded
‘search and rescue NGO’ called the White Helmets, who claim
in their official literature to have saved some 80,000
lives from the regime’s “barrel
bomb” and air attacks since they were founded in late 2013. Unlike
the Aleppo medical authorities, the White Helmets have not as yet
provided any actual details of these 80,000 persons,
or their injuries. While the incredible claims of the White
Helmets continue to garner praise and Oscar awards, the western media
seem blind to the 15,000 residents left dead from terrorists strikes,
including thousands of dead children. This is a good example of
the intricate campaign of disinformation which has been waged
against Syria by the west, and continues to this day.
McCain’s
Army: Brigade 16
After
surveying the Eastern districts, we drove through
Kurdish-controlled Sheikh Maqsood area in the city’s northern
sector, before heading into the Layramoun district which used to be
the textile manufacturing hub of Aleppo. Layramoun became the main
base of operations for Brigade 16, who are also credited for
inventing the Hell Cannon gas canister bomb delivery system.
It
is in Layramoun that the infamous ‘Brigade 16’ set-up a Hell
Cannon assembly line in one of the occupied textile factory
buildings.
As
it happened, Senator John McCain travelled to northern Syria in May
2013 where he met with leaders of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and
other ‘rebel’ operatives, some of
which were later identified as persons with known links to
terrorist groups and criminal gangs. One of these was a member of the
infamous Brigade 16, commonly known as the “16th Infantry Division”
(Arabic: الفرقة
16
مشاة)
of the FSA, known to be responsible for a number of criminal
enterprises including robbery, kidnapping, extortion, and the
mass looting of factories around
Aleppo.
Walking
into the factory, you can still see the Brigade 16 emblem prominently
displayed on the post to the lefthand side of the building’s
entrance.
Brigade 16 commandeered factory in textile district to produce gas canister bombs (Photo: Patrick Henningsen @21WIRE)
Driving
into the the city from the east, we passed the Jibrin Refugee Centre
where thousands of Aleppo displaced residents are still housed, along
with newly arrived survivors of last
week’s car bomb attack at Rashideen outside of
Aleppo, where at least 126 people were killed. The buses were
transporting residents who were being evacuated from the
towns of Foua and Kefraya, both under terrorist siege for the
last two years. The violent event was a stark reminder of just how
vicious this war continues to be, and that the ones who suffer the
most are not governments, but the poorest of the people.
(Photo: Patrick Henningsen @21WIRE)
Also
along the eastern entry highway, coming off the road which connects
Aleppo to Raqqa, we also passed the Sheikh Najjar Industrial
District. What you see is difficult to comprehend. Every single
factory and industrial estate we passed was decimated. This is one of
the most profound and yet completely under-reported aspects of the
war which also gets no airtime whatsoever by ‘experts’ in the
western circles.
Undoubtedly, Aleppo
was one of the top manufacturing powerhouses of the Middle East, and
the economic heart of Syria. Since 2012, that heart has been torn
from the country by a systematic and targeted effort administered by
multiple terrorist factions.
What’s
more important to note, is how all of the estimated 1,500 that
were trashed or converted to terrorist military facilities, had their
contents completely looted by armed groups – piece by piece,
machine by machine, before being taken north into Turkey.
The
obvious object of this exercise, aside from the fencing value of the
stolen goods, was to remove Syria’s ability to supply its own
markets with products and make it dependent on imports from
neighboring countries, including Turkey.
Independent Parliamentarian Fares Shehabi MP from Aleppo (Photo: Patrick Henningsen @21WIRE)
The
next day we met with Aleppo MP and Chairman of the Aleppo
Chamber of Industry, Fares Shehabi. He explained the scale of the
disaster left in the wake of the dismantling of Aleppo’s
manufacturing sector by western and gulf state-backed terrorist
groups, including looting carried out by Brigade 16.
“Brigade
16 of the Free Syrian Army used to occupy the industrial zone. They
robbed 1000 factories – completely, they even took the copper from
inside the walls. They began this in June 2012 and it was
liberated 4 years later. They took everything to Turkey.”
After
the liberation of Aleppo’s terrorist-held areas, Shehabi led a
delegation to liberated areas in order to survey the damage.
“When
we entered the day after liberation, I went with 200 industrialists
and they saw their factories in rubble, looted completely. We saw the
slogans, we saw a torture prison for pro-government people, we saw
the ammunition factories, mortar factories. The guys who used to run
this were Brigade
16 –
they were the same ones hitting us with the gas canister (missiles),
or Hell Cannons,” said Shehabi.
“Myself,
I had three factories – a pharmaceutical factory, an olive oil
factory, and a clothing factory. The clothing factory is still… for
five years now – under Al Nusra control. The olive oil factory,
ISIS took it and turned it into a command center for two years.
When we finally took it back, I turned it into a school for poor
children. The pharmaceutical factory is in a hot zone, still.”
“ISIS
even issued an official letter from their court to order the
confiscation of my factory.”
‘Official’ ISIS decree to confiscate factory under new Sharia legal domain (Photo: Fares Shehabi)
Ransacked and looted: one of thousands of factories taken over or destroyed by terrorists groups in Aleppo (Photo: Fares Shehabi)
Still,
Shehabi is amazed at how western media professionals and politicians
are still referring to terrorist factions as the ‘rebel
opposition,’ or ‘moderate rebels.’ He then proceeded to show
us his collection of photos of numerous radical militant leaders
posing with various US officials. One after another, Shehabi
delivered a damning indictment of western political leaders and their
seemingly open affiliations with radical salafi terrorist
commanders.
“Brigade
16 invented the Hell Canon (photo), and Brigade 16 were with John
McCain as we can see in the picture. Look, this is (Colonel) Riyad
al-Asad – the founder of the FSA, the most ‘moderate’ of them
all, sitting here with the Taliban of Syria. Even the Taliban have a
branch in Syria.”
“This
is the Aleppo (FSA) commander with Robert Ford, and this is the same
guy with ISIS.”
Despite
the fact that all of these images have been freely available
online, these associations still do not register with US media,
carefully whitewashed under layers of carefully crafted
anti-Syrian propaganda.
Shehabi
also knocked back the western misconception about claims of how
many actual civilian residents were in East Aleppo during the war, as
opposed to imported foreign terrorist mercenaries.
“Remember
when they (the western media) used to say, ‘we have 250,000 people
living here in East Aleppo and there are no foreigners, they are all
from East Aleppo.’ When they (the terrorists) conquered East
Aleppo, there used to be 2 million in East Aleppo. This number
dropped to 113K, because immediately after the occupation of East
Aleppo 1 million people left. They came to this area and we still
have half a million of those people living here (in West
Aleppo). The other half million went to the Alawite areas,
the coastal areas (Latakia and Tartous). They did not say, ‘oh,
these are Alawites, or these are Shi’ites.’ They went there
immediately, and they are still living there. So the actual number in
East Aleppo dropped to about 113,000.”
“During
the evacuation that took place in Dec 2016 in the green buses, 20,000
was the total number of people who left East Aleppo to Idlib, from
those who left – 15,000 were not from Aleppo – they were a
combination of people from Idlib, and many foreigners –
Uzbekistan, Chechens, Saudis. Only 5,000 thousand went with them (to
Idlib?), the rest are still here (in West Aleppo). Everyone is now
involved – this conflict is now internationalized,” said Shehabi.
As the
dust begins settling on Aleppo, it’s now widely understood by
Syrians that Turkey has played the pivotal role since the conflict
began in 2011 by facilitating terrorist forward operating bases
inside of Turkey, as well the destruction of the Syrian
economy. After Syria’s manufacturing sector had been
gutted and taken north into Turkey, it’s safe to say there is
no love lost between Syrians and the Turkish president Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan.
On
this, Shehabi remarked, “We call him ‘The Thief of Aleppo’,
Erdogan. For the past 6 years he wanted to establish a parliamentary
system in Syria. He said the presidential system in Syria is no good
and that we need a parliamentary system in Syria. Why? So that the
Muslim Brotherhood can reach power. Ok, so you want us the change to
a parliamentary system – while you want a presidential dictatorship
in Turkey?”
Culture Targeted
Aside
from manufacturing and merchant sectors, another area which has
disappeared is tourism, estimated to have comprised roughly 14%
of Syria’s economy before the war. The country boasts an unrivaled
collection of historical sites which predate both Christian and
Islamic civilizations. Syria’s Christian and Islamic sites are some
of the most highly regarded in the world.
Veteran
tour guide Mohammad Al Khousi explained to us how the
conflict has affected him personally, as well as his industry,
and how this aspect of the crisis cuts much deeper than the issue
of tourism.
“As
a guide, I was sometimes in Aleppo three days per week, so Aleppo
was like a second home for me. Before the war, I was last in
Aleppo in 2009. I was back in 2013 briefly, but when I finally
returned to Aleppo in 2016 – it was the saddest day of my
life. Honestly, I was crying. When I left Aleppo before, I had great
memories. They destroyed my business, as well as all of the
other guides I know. They (the terrorists) destroyed shops, and all
their incomes. They burned the Old Souks, they burned the gold
market, they burned the soap market, they burned the textile markets.
Look how many people lost their businesses; as a guide, a shopkeeper,
all the drivers, the travel agencies – some of them died, some of
them handicapped, some lost their parents, or lost their kids. It’s
really very sad, it’s a tragedy.”
“I
did an interview on Danish TV, it was a 3 hour recorded interview,
and I couldn’t hold it anymore, I started crying. I wasn’t crying
because I lost my home, I was crying for Palmyra and Aleppo,”
said Al Khousi.
Like
so many others we spoke to, Al Khousi believes that Syria’s
historic sites have been targeted intentionally, and strategically.
“It
started in Lebanon, continued to Iraq, continued to Palestine, then
to Syria, and also Yemen. Yemen is the source of civilization to
Saudi and to the Arab peninsula. Why? It seems that someone wants
to destroy our culture – our civilization.”
After heavy fighting, the Old Citadel remains in tact (Photo: Patrick Henningsen @21WIRE)
A view looking down from the steps of Aleppo’s 13th century Old Citadel, at what is left of the site where the Ritz Carlton Hotel once stood (Photo: Patrick Henningsen @21WIRE)
Before
the war, the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Aleppo was arguably one of the
most impressive boutique hotels in the world with a position and view
which was second to none. The stately home turned hotel was part of
the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In
May 2014, terrorist fighters tunneled under the hotel, before
detonating explosives which completely destroyed the building.
Dr Bouthaina Shaaban (Photo: Patrick Henningsen @21WIRE)
The
bombed-out property took on a whole new meaning after a later
conversation we had with Dr Bouthaina Shaaban, Syria’s chief
political and media adviser to the President, who recalled a
harrowing tale of her last encounter with the Turkish leader Erdogan
right before the war began in 2011:
“I
remember… just before the war on Syria started, when President
Erdogan came to Aleppo to visit President Assad, and we were having
dinner in what was in the Carlton Hotel but now it’s totally
demolished, and it was overlooking the castle (Old Citadel). The view
was truly amazing. I was sitting next to Erdogan and he was looking
at the castle and said to President Assad, ‘Is there any other
place in the world, where you can sit in such a modern place and sit
and look at such an so old historic place.’ I remember that, and I
remember his tone, but I never imagined he would be so resentful and
that he would like to destroy a place he doesn’t have – something
he can’t have and can’t claim.”
Any remaining
doubt that the takedown of Aleppo, and Syria, was planned well in
advance – was long gone by the end of this visit.
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