Comment: The Guardian prefaces this photo essay with the following: "Aleppo was Syria's most populous city when the civil war arrived in July 2012, but the conflict has taken a huge toll, with Russian airstrikes since September 2015 causing intense devastation, as these before and after images show."

Bollocks. This is what war does to a country. As if Russia, or even Syria for that matter, had any desire to destroy Aleppo. This is what the U.S. does to Middle Eastern countries. It is what the U.S. has done to Syria. The war never would have happened if not for the U.S. policy to radicalize "opposition" to Bashar al-Assad, to move in foreign jihadis to launch a violent revolution to topple the secular government and install a radical Islamist one in its place.

Is it therefore any wonder that the U.S. are so hated around the world?


Aleppo's citadel photographed on 9 August 2010 and 13 December 2016.
aleppo
© Sandra Auger/Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
aleppo
© Sandra Auger/Omar Sanadiki/Reuters

The entrance to the al-Zarab souk photographed on 24 November 2008 and 13 December 2016.
aleppo
© Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
aleppo
© Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
The old city photographed on 24 November 2008 and 13 December 2016.
aleppo
© Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
aleppo
© Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
Hammam al-Nahasin bath house photographed on 6 October 2010 and 13 December 2016.
aleppo
© Khalil Ashawi/Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
aleppo
© Khalil Ashawi/Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
Umayyad mosque photographed on 12 March 2009 and 13 December 2016.
aleppo
© Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
aleppo
© Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
Umayyad mosque photographed on 12 March 2009 and 13 December 2016.
aleppo
© Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
aleppo
© Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
Umayyad mosque photographed on 6 October 2010 and 17 December 2016.
aleppo
© Khalil Ashawi/Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
aleppo
© Khalil Ashawi/Omar Sanadiki/Reuters

The courtyard of al-Sheebani school photographed on 6 June 2009 and 17 December 2016.

aleppo
© Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
aleppo
© Omar Sanadiki/Reuters

The Shahba Mall, one of the largest shopping centres in Syria, photographed on 12 December 2009 and 16 October 2014.

aleppo
© Khalil Ashawi/Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters
aleppo
© Khalil Ashawi/Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters