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Faces Of Aleppo

Just out of 4,5 years of occupation hell

By Jan Oberg

January 21^st, 2017

Letting the people speak

Who are the people you see here?

These people had just come out of 4,5 years of occupation - hell, as many called it. They had been occupied by what I call RIOTs - Rebels-Insurgents-Opposition-Terrorists - various groups with guns in their hands that had obtained the economic, political and military backing of NATO countries - Turkey in particular - and their regional allies such as Saudi-Arabia, Qatar, Israel a.o.

According to these occupied people, "T" dominated by far.

Their goal was, of course, to take as much as possible of Syria, depose President Bashar al-Assad, the government and state and then run Syria as an Islamist state based on Sharia laws. Aleppo was immensely important for them because it is Syria' largest city and a major industrial centre in the whole Middle East.

Aleppo - world history that many want to forget

What happened in Aleppo is world history, no less. But Western media and political establishments would like to forget that soon. They had supported the occupiers of Eastern Aleppo.

The importance of what happened in Aleppo in mid-December 2016 should not be underestimated.

I'm intent on keeping that piece of world history alive - tell more of what I saw and can document - and go there again.

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My other stories have had quite a lot of texts. You may check them out to get the background and situation.

Here I just want you to see and reflect on how the Allepians I met expressed happiness, despair, hope, kindness but also anger at one and the same time. Pictures can say much more than words, particularly when we contemplate mindfully on what there is to see in every and each face of these victims of what is often called high politics - which often implies low morality.

So, please don't rush. See and empathize.

Click on each image to enlarge it. Also, hover over an image to see whether there is a caption that explains the situation.

In the Jibrin reception centre for people needing humanitarian aid

Click on each image to enlarge it. Also, hover over an image to see whether there is a caption that explains the situation.

Click on each image to enlarge it. Also, hover over an image to see whether there is a caption that explains the situation.

I met these people in the Hanano District of Aleppo.

Soldiers from the Syrian Arab Army relieved that it was over.

Teacher in a school that had been used by Al-Nushra

Headmaster in a school housed inside a factory - for the first time in two years 1500 children went to school there.

When will they ever learn?

Whenever you hear your your friends, politicians, experts and media say that war is the only way out, say it isn't true. War is never the only option. It's only the only options with people who have not thought of all the other options, people who are conflict illiterate for one reason or the other.

For...

It's people like those above whose lives and livelihood will be destroyed, whose relatives and friends will be wounded or killed and who will suffer psychologically, become traumatised.

Think of the children in particular. When they die, most years are taken away, most potential.

When they are wounded in their souls, they may have to suffer for the largest number of years.

It's people like those above who could just as well have been dead today.

About 300.000 or more have already been killed.

But how many millions in Syria have "just" been wounded in their bodies and souls?

TFF's conflict and peace mission - share and support

The visit to Aleppo at this historic moment was part of a ten-day conflict and peace fact-finding mission by the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFF, in Lund, Sweden of which I am the director. I can be contacted at janoberg@mac.com.

Our gratitude to those who support the foundation in its work for the UN norm of making peace with peaceful means and made this mission, the first since the violence broke out in Syria in 2011, possible. To the extent that we can raise the funds, it will be the first of more missions.

Thanks for helping us continue this mission here.

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These photos and copyright

Finally, many of the images here are snapshot-like. They are shot either with my Nikon D7000 or my iPhone 6S. They are taken under very difficult circumstances, no time permitting the search for the perfect angle or focus; some are "drive-by" photos shot out of the car window. But they have all been processed and improved upon my return from Syria.

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