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Photos: Living along the battered ruins of Aleppo’s former frontline

Once Syria’s largest city, Aleppo was home to four million people, but hundreds and thousands fled during the brutal nine-year war. Due to the airstrikes and bombardments, people in Aleppo's Salahaddine district who suffered a massive damage in war are now trying to pick up the pieces of their lives and returning to normalcy amid rubble and dust.

Updated on: May 09, 2019 2:10 PM IST

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1/10

When Hassan Ahmed al-Aoul looks from his balcony in Aleppo, little meets his gaze but ruins - great mounds of rubble where his neighbours’ houses used to stand. Like many with homes near Aleppo’s frontlines, the city areas that suffered most damage in a war now into its ninth year, he makes do with a life in the rubble. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

Updated on May 09, 2019 2:10 PM

When Hassan Ahmed al-Aoul looks from his balcony in Aleppo, little meets his gaze but ruins - great mounds of rubble where his neighbours’ houses used to stand. Like many with homes near Aleppo’s frontlines, the city areas that suffered most damage in a war now into its ninth year, he makes do with a life in the rubble. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

2/10

He fled the area at the start of the fighting in 2012 and returned years later when it ended with a government victory, finding his house badly damaged. The 75-year-old and his wife, Aisha, 60, borrowed money to fix the shell-smashed back wall and replaster the inside, where they now live with their daughter Maryam, 30, and her three children. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

Updated on May 09, 2019 2:10 PM

He fled the area at the start of the fighting in 2012 and returned years later when it ended with a government victory, finding his house badly damaged. The 75-year-old and his wife, Aisha, 60, borrowed money to fix the shell-smashed back wall and replaster the inside, where they now live with their daughter Maryam, 30, and her three children. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

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Their three rooms are furnished with mats, rugs, blankets and foam mattresses that double up as sofas and bedding. In the entranceway, coats hang next to a pink clock shaped like a teddy bear. The taller buildings on each side were either totally destroyed or damaged to the point of being uninhabitable. On the main street nearby, a collapse in February killed 11 people. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

Updated on May 09, 2019 2:10 PM

Their three rooms are furnished with mats, rugs, blankets and foam mattresses that double up as sofas and bedding. In the entranceway, coats hang next to a pink clock shaped like a teddy bear. The taller buildings on each side were either totally destroyed or damaged to the point of being uninhabitable. On the main street nearby, a collapse in February killed 11 people. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

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Aoul, a retired stone cutter, said he isn’t worried about his house collapsing. However, it would not only put their lives in danger but take almost all they own. The family income rests on a taxi that stands outside the bullet-riddled front door. Aoul rents it to a driver who gives him half the takings. But the driver hasn’t shown up for five days. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

Updated on May 09, 2019 2:10 PM

Aoul, a retired stone cutter, said he isn’t worried about his house collapsing. However, it would not only put their lives in danger but take almost all they own. The family income rests on a taxi that stands outside the bullet-riddled front door. Aoul rents it to a driver who gives him half the takings. But the driver hasn’t shown up for five days. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

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One of the big piles of stone, concrete slab and rusting metal that Aoul can see from his balcony was once the family home of Mustafa Karim, a taxi-driver. His parents owned the low corner block of 10 flats where they lived with his two sisters, with shops on the ground floor that included a barber and a plumber. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

Updated on May 09, 2019 2:10 PM

One of the big piles of stone, concrete slab and rusting metal that Aoul can see from his balcony was once the family home of Mustafa Karim, a taxi-driver. His parents owned the low corner block of 10 flats where they lived with his two sisters, with shops on the ground floor that included a barber and a plumber. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

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Mustafa Karim gestures in front of his destroyed house. Like the Aouls, they also left the district when the war came to Aleppo in 2012, and returned after the government recaptured it in December 2016. Their house was destroyed in the fierce battles in the month before the fighting ended. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

Updated on May 09, 2019 2:10 PM

Mustafa Karim gestures in front of his destroyed house. Like the Aouls, they also left the district when the war came to Aleppo in 2012, and returned after the government recaptured it in December 2016. Their house was destroyed in the fierce battles in the month before the fighting ended. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

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“It was a shock for us to hear it was destroyed. There’s no way we can rebuild. We can barely manage our daily expenses,” Karim said. Rubble covers three sides of the crossroads where his house stood, with bits of buildings sill protruding, in one place, an olive tree. Pigeons kept by a neighbour flutter about. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

Updated on May 09, 2019 2:10 PM

“It was a shock for us to hear it was destroyed. There’s no way we can rebuild. We can barely manage our daily expenses,” Karim said. Rubble covers three sides of the crossroads where his house stood, with bits of buildings sill protruding, in one place, an olive tree. Pigeons kept by a neighbour flutter about. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

8/10

Behind one street of entirely collapsed buildings is a mechanic’s garage where workers are elbow deep in the engine of Karim’s taxi. Across the main street, the al-Burr family lives down another side street. Hussein (R), 41, minds the grocery shop, selling tins and packets of food, eggs and sweets. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

Updated on May 09, 2019 2:10 PM

Behind one street of entirely collapsed buildings is a mechanic’s garage where workers are elbow deep in the engine of Karim’s taxi. Across the main street, the al-Burr family lives down another side street. Hussein (R), 41, minds the grocery shop, selling tins and packets of food, eggs and sweets. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

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People queue to buy bread. The main street in this part of Aleppo’s Salahaddine district was the frontline. The Aoul and Karim houses were on the rebel side, bombarded with the army’s much heavier weaponry, including from the air. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

Updated on May 09, 2019 2:10 PM

People queue to buy bread. The main street in this part of Aleppo’s Salahaddine district was the frontline. The Aoul and Karim houses were on the rebel side, bombarded with the army’s much heavier weaponry, including from the air. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

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The Burr house was on the government side, so was less badly damaged. But it was looted in the chaos. Everything was taken - from the furniture to the electric wiring and doorframes. For a light, they have two electric torches stuck to the wall. “They even took our coffee cups,” said Ali. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

Updated on May 09, 2019 2:10 PM

The Burr house was on the government side, so was less badly damaged. But it was looted in the chaos. Everything was taken - from the furniture to the electric wiring and doorframes. For a light, they have two electric torches stuck to the wall. “They even took our coffee cups,” said Ali. (Omar Sanadiki / REUTERS)

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