Aleppo is a city on edge. Shelling pounds the key battleground daily, an unrelenting and terrifying reminder of Syria’s five-year civil war.
Earlier this month, President Bashar al-Assad’s regime cut off access to the main road from Aleppo to the Turkish border, in turn hampering any movement by rebels fighting his government but also NGOs who are trying to bring supplies to the city’s beleaguered populace.
It’s estimated some 320,000 people still live, or subsist, in the city under continual bombardment. Residents are suffering in many ways. They are hungry. There’s a shortage of fuel. And getting out has become as risky as staying.
But this week, as CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen discovered, many in the government-controlled portions of Aleppo are carrying on. Families are going to the market, buying fresh fruit, bread and other items not far from the war’s front line. Despite a relatively calm scene, some told CNN they fear what is becoming of one of the country’s largest cities.