Flagrant looting ravages Syria’s Aleppo

Following Assad and its allies’ control of Aleppo in December 2016, life in the city has come to a complete standstill.

Speaking to Yeni Şafak daily, locals who recently visited Aleppo stated that electricity, water, transport and security infrastructures were utterly collapsed in the city and that no steps have been taken for reconstruction during the past 19 months. There are only three neighborhoods that have access to electricity and water, while thousands are waiting for their loved ones to be removed from beneath the rubble, according to reports.

Before Syria was ravaged by war, Aleppo hosted a population of 5.5 million people, but 75 percent of the city was emptied in 2013 after the opposition left.

Locals also stated that 65 percent of the building are in ruins and that no one enters these regions due to extraordinary bad conditions. Syrian regime-affiliated Shabbiha paramilitaries, Iran-backed Shia militias and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists have escalated looting, and pillage everything from abandoned homes while lacing empty buildings with dynamite to collect steel and sell it.

55-year-old Ümmü Mervan who travelled from Idlib to Aleppo said that PKK terrorists, Assad-affiliated Shabbihas and Iran-backed Shia militias looted everything of material value from their homes and stole construction materials by detonating dynamite.

Stressing flagrant looting, an Arabic teacher Ebu Hasan Muhacir said, “It sometimes takes three hours to arrive to the Sahur neighborhood in Aleppo from al-Hamdaniya district. However, the distance is only 4.5 kilometers. But every 300 meters they have a check points and rob civilians.”

A report published on Friday claimed that Turkey would control Syria’s central regions including Aleppo, with talks being conducted with Russia, causing excitement to ripple through the country.

Former President of Aleppo Local Council Muhammad Fadıyli said that Turkey’s initiative in Aleppo is not only a great revolution for Syria but also for the Middle East.

“Production, trade, education and health services have been reduced to zero because of the civil war. All areas except for the ones Nusayri officers, Iran-backed Shia militias and the Russians are staying are administrated in a full occupation policy.”

“Aleppo is still under the occupation of foreign powers. We want and are waiting for the Turkish army; it is our only hope” said Fadıyli, adding that all neighborhoods in Aleppo except for Cemiliyye, Mogambo, Martini ve el-Azamiyye are “Deprivation Zones.”

Arbitrary arrests by the Assad regime are still continuing in Aleppo and around 1,400 have been detained so far, with 160 people missing.