On July 19th, 2012, the ongoing civil unrest in Syria reached the troubled country’s largest city, Aleppo. The city quickly became one of the deadliest sites in the conflict, with the government-backed Syrian army using barrel bombs dropped from helicopters.
Thousands have lost their lives, and hundreds of thousands more have fled to safety, many losing their own lives in the process.
In addition to the staggering death toll, the bombardment of Syria’s biggest city has also come at a historical price. The Old City of Aleppo, officially designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site 30 years ago, has been utterly destroyed. The images below capture what the city looked like before and after the bombs started falling.
Take a look through the gallery below:
