Syria: From the ruins of Aleppo, a new generation is rising
This report contains images some viewers may find disturbing
For mile upon mile Aleppo lies in ruins. Death by barrel bomb and artillery strike.
From the rubble there is a new generation rising.
Children who know nothing of the joys of childhood and far too much about the hardships of war.
The youngest may be lucky enough to forget the worst they have witnessed.
But Tariq Hussein will have to live with this war forever.
His wounds must be as painful for him to bear as they are difficult for us to look at.
There are deep scars across his chest, back and arms.
And yet his grandfather tells me he thanks God for his good fortune.
He says the mortar, fired by rebels, that did this to Tariq killed his father and sister and three brothers.
Now the family live – seventeen to a tiny room – among thousands crammed into student dormitories at Aleppo University.
To hear their stories is to realize that in this divided city – contested by government and opposition for so long – that there is no monopoly on suffering.
Indeed hatred and misery are all they do share.
Fatima cries for the son lost fighting for the Syrian army.
Her daughter, Emina, is a lawyer in a land where law is redundant
Says she was imprisoned by Islamic Jihad; guilty by association.I thought they would finish me,’’ she says,but by some miracle they let me go.’’
It helps to believe in miracles if you think this war will end anytime soon.
The latest UN plan calls for a freeze in hostilities in Aleppo.
Bashar Al Assad’s officials here give it barely a moment’s consideration.
Abdul Qader Hariri, who is head of the Baath party at the university asks:
Yet it is the Government onslaught that has laid waste to much of the city.
We found some who have escaped the ruins to make home in houses yet to be finished.
A huge new suburb on the south of Aleppo is shelter for 40,000 people.
Construction stopped at the point there were bare concrete walls and a roof but little else.
Hasan Debish has four children to care for but no running, no power, and it would seem, little hope.
The only freeze coming is winter’s chill.
And who knows when the sun will shine again.
More from John Ray in Syria: The destruction of Aleppo is almost complete