The city of Aleppo, which has become the latest flashpoint between the Syrian government forces and rebels in recent days, has a historic past. One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Aleppo is thought to have been inhabited as far back as the 6th millennium BC.
Aleppo’s location at the end of the historic Silk Route, which passed into central Asia and Mesopotamia, helped it retain its edge as trading town. Its centuries’-old domination started declining after the inauguration of the Suez Canal in Egypt in 1869.
As lost its access to the sea (by ceding Antioch and Alexandretta to modern Turkey in the 1940s), Aleppo became isolated, just like the rest of Syria, in the decades that followed the World War II and the downfall of the Ottoman empire.
However, its isolation is also perhaps the reason why the medieval architecture and traditional heritage of Aleppo’s old quarter have remained well-preserved.
Aleppo has been slow to enter the conflict raging between the Bashar al-Assad government troops and the rebel Free Syria Army precisely due to its distinctive historic identity. Unlike other Syrian towns, it has not unconditionally embraced the cause of the rebels, even though dissent against Assad has always been simmering here.
As the city that essentially ensures economic activity in Syria, Aleppo has been hard hit by the economic sanctions imposed on the country since the popular unrest began last year. The agriculturally-based economy of Syria relies on produce farmed in Aleppo’s provinces, and also on the major factories that operate out of this region.
Much of the industrial activity here has been hit by fuel shortages, caused by diversion of supplies to the military.
The Sunni majority merchants and economic elites of Aleppo, who were long-time allies of the Assad regime have seen their profits hit by the unrest, and have slowly started helping the Free Syrian Army, perhaps as a way to secure their own future in a post-Assad scenario.
What was billed as the “mother of all battles” by the pro-government daily Al Watan, has not really been a walkover for the Assad troops. Rebels yesterday staved off a fightback by regime forces in Aleppo, but fears have intensified of reprisal attacks against civilians.
Russia, Syria’s staunchest ally so far, has accused the West of aiding opposition fighters, even as it warned of a looming tragedy due to the outbreak of violence.
“We are persuading the government that they need to make some first gestures,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
With the poorly-armed rebels facing a state-funded army, the battle over Aleppo is clearly an unequal one. Above all, it is Aleppo’s historicity that will be buried under the rubble of the fiery explosions as the world watches and waits for a solution.