CBC's Margaret Evans shares 'apocalyptic' view of Aleppo
Before the conflict, Aleppo was Syria's largest city — a centre of commercial life. Today, it's ground zero for the forces of war tearing the country apart.
Government strikes have eliminated the last of the hospitals in rebel-held Eastern Aleppo. Meanwhile in western Aleppo, the Syrian army continues its offensive to wrest back control of a key part of the city that has been largely destroyed.
"It is so much more unimaginable than you think, the level of destruction in that city...," CBC foreign correspondent Margaret Evans tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti after returning from a 10-day trip to Syria and spending five days in Aleppo.
Evans, who was in Aleppo in 2003, says the return can only be described as "apocalyptic."
"That's really what it looked like. It was like a moonscape," she says.
On the outside, Aleppo looked like an abandoned city whose buildings have been taken over by soldiers. Until she noticed a group of kids leave these same destroyed buildings after coming home for lunch.
"They're going back to school with their backpacks and their hair carefully brushed," Evans tells Tremonti.
"They're living right there on that frontline. And there are all sorts of people living in that precarious state."
When there's bombing, the city shakes with the sound of falling bombs.
She says in the five years of this conflict civilians have been living in a "terrible rhythm that has become a part of their life" — caught between both sides, blown back and forth from this conflict, and the city itself.
Evans remembers meeting a young man, hospitalised after being shot by a sniper. He told her he didn't want to go back to his home neighbourhood.
"He just said you know Syria's tired. Syrians are so tired."
According to Evans, both sides are aware of what's happening to the other but "in the end there will be a defeated and victorious party" that affects everyone.
"You know the cost of the war for those who've been fighting it and those who will be on the losing end is so high," says Evans.
"If there is peace or an ease, it will be a forced one to begin with. The notion of reconciliation is difficult, in any conflict."
Listen to the full conversation at the top of this web post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Pacinthe Mattar.