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Among the Snipers of Aleppo

(New York Times) Benjamin Hall - In the Syrian city of Aleppo, there are neighborhoods that are almost entirely abandoned, and blocks of buildings with their facades blown off, apartments open to the street. Broken water pipes have turned roads into debris-clogged rivers. The snipers, both rebel and regime, are everywhere. The MIG jets are always overhead, and shelling continues day and night. For a few days in September, I was embedded with the Ahrar al-Sham, or Free Men, rebel faction in the city. Every couple of streets in Aleppo is under the watch of a different brigade, and while they sometimes work together, they are just as often at odds. Many of the rebels are fighting for a noble cause, and have no motive beyond protecting their homes and families. But it is hard to pick them apart from those who seek to transform Syria into a Sharia-based fundamentalist state.
2012-10-19 00:00:00
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