The destroyed buildings are in an area that was long held by rebels. The worst of the damage looks like the result of airstrikes. Only the government and, for the past year, its ally Russia have warplanes in the fight here. But some of the destruction could also be from artillery, which both sides have.

You go from this moonscape of war-destroyed buildings to a street of buses, open shops and apartments with laundry hanging from the balconies. These are areas that the government never lost, so they were never hit with the heaviest firepower. But rebel groups fire mortars; an individual strike doesn’t cause a building to fall, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t kill someone.

As you enter western Aleppo, everything seems so normal.

It looks like any city. Children are coming home from school. People are coming home from work. There are cars and taxis.

In the distance you can hear shelling, but most of it is pretty far away. And although almost any area does occasionally get hit by a shell, after four years of this, people just continue about their daily lives.

Passing a road sign for Azaz, a city in rebel-held territory. Credit Anne Barnard/
Passing a road sign for Azaz, a city in rebel-held territory. Credit Anne Barnard/ -  I can’t go to Azaz from government-held Aleppo because it’s rebel territory. It would be almost impossible, and prohibitively dangerous, to get there, crossing several front lines. © Anne Barnard/The New York Times
A street in western Aleppo, a side of the city controlled by the Syrian government where many shops are open.
A street in western Aleppo, a side of the city controlled by the Syrian government where many shops are open. © Anne Barnard/The New York Times
My hotel room and the view, a strange combination of elegance and war.
My hotel room and the view, a strange combination of elegance and war. - They gave me a room high up, but at least it was facing west. The next morning another journalist rooming on the east side looked up and said, “Oh my God.” The hotel had taken so many hits, so many windows were boarded up.In my hotel room, I found a beautiful set of handmade, classic Syrian furniture, a style called mosaic, wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The headboard was carved. There was even a little plate of sweets on the coffee table.I walked into the room and drew the curtains, and I saw beautiful Aleppo, and in the distance this huge plume of smoke. It was the battlefront where rebels outside the city were trying to break the siege of eastern Aleppo. © Anne Barnard/The New York Times