The Social Ruins of Aleppo, Syria

Image 1. The grand entrance to the Aleppo Citadel with a local visitor sitting on the right side for scale.

By Mia Shouha

Foreword: Since this article was written, the war reignited in Syria. The stalemate in the northeast of the country ended, and Aleppo City fell to opposition militants backed by Turkey on the 29th of November, 2024. The rest of the country has since also changed hands as of the 8th of December, 2024.

In Aleppo, crumbling historical sites and broken buildings tell an identical story to the populace—each fractured yet enduring. Since 2011, Syria’s economic, social, and cultural structures have been ravaged by the war between the country’s government forces and different coalitions of opposition militias, with all sides backed by numerous international parties and conflicting interests. As a result, the country that existed in 2011 is barely recognizable[1].

The Battle of Aleppo (2012–2016) was particularly destructive, turning vast areas of the city into battlegrounds for some of the most brutal urban warfare of the twenty-first century[2]. The aftermath is visible in the ruined streets, damaged infrastructure, and decimated World Heritage sites, as well as in the collective psyche and memory of its people. By 2016, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimated that 60 percent of Aleppo’s Old City had been severely damaged, with 30 percent completely destroyed[3]. The Battle for Aleppo ended in 2016 in the Syrian Government’s favour. However, since then, conditions have been eroded by severe international sanctions and domestic mismanagement, leading to economic crisis and impediments to reconstruction.

I visited Aleppo in 2022 and bore witness to the remnants of this city. Shattered walls mirrored the fractured lives of those who remain. Yet the ruins of the city were intertwined with the resilience of its people, each shaping the other's survival. The Old City, a labyrinth of serpentine streets, now carries masses of broken stone at each corner—a marker of historical richness and recent trauma. Its social fabric, much like the homes that line these streets, is torn. What remains is a patchwork of community and place, frayed at the edges but still holding—just barely. These trends speak to the phenomenon of “ruination”, which conceptualizes the physical remnants left by destruction and violation. This concept helps articulate the lingering social proximity to and subjective experiences of these remnants that persist, like an aftereffect, in the wake of war or violence[4].

Walking through the grey-splattered remnants of once vibrant Aleppan life, one can feel history pressing down on every shattered stone. The city is filled with contradictions between scarcity and excess, which clash and coexist. In apartment buildings, only a single balcony might be lit at night—a faint glow in a sea of darkness. The installation of a generator switch in a building sometimes signals that only one family remains, or that they are the only ones who can afford to light their home beyond the electricity available to the public. Many social gatherings occur in shadows, punctuated by the hum of generators and sudden outages. At midnight, all available energy runs out, and Aleppo is suffocated by a thick blanket of darkness.

Community ties, once strong, now feel transient and fragile. Conversations often turn to stories of migration; nearly every Syrian has family overseas. Fragmented ties and the cracks in familial foundations mirror the broken buildings that shelter them. Aleppo, one of the world's oldest cities, has been inhabited since as far back as the sixth millennium BC[5]. It is shocking how this ancient existence feels so fleeting today. Life continues but is fragmented and difficult. The social presence—or absence of it—is reflected in the brutalized brick-and-mortar of the city. Every cracked wall, every collapsed building, symbolizes the fractured social ties that once formed Aleppo.

Amid the ruins lies the weight of Syria's history and trauma, now standing as a battleground of pride and lamentation. The broken buildings are more than structures; they are physical embodiments of the people's struggle. The actions of individuals and communities are enmeshed in these physical spaces, and together, they represent one another. In Aleppo, ruins lie in the built environment and the fractured bonds of community.

Image 2. An intimate exchange and forehead touch outside the Aleppo Citadel.

Image 3. Present habits against ancient fixtures. A carpet is left out to dry against the background of the ancient Aleppo Citadel, its mound covered in lush grass and flowers during spring.

Image 4. Casual interactions on the front steps of the Aleppo citadel, which is closed for the day by a metal barrier—a tiny, fine steel chain for a grand fortress.

Image 5. A small gathering of mirrored motions by the citadel wall.

Image 6. The pattern of rebar steel among the post-battle ruins of a shop in Al Hatab Square, Old Aleppo.

Image 7. A family walks by the stone destruction of Aleppo's Old City. Such destruction is a common sight in these once cherished areas.

Image 8. The pattern of rebar steel among the post-battle ruins of a shop in Al Hatab Square, Old Aleppo.

Image 9. A view of the Aleppo citadel from the top floor of a dilapidated building in the Old City. The broken window, as a result of bombing, aptly frames the citadel and the surrounding destruction.

Image 10. A family walks by the stone destruction of Aleppo's Old City. Such destruction is a common sight in these once cherished areas.

Image 11. The tortured façade of a destroyed building is framed by the levity of a blue sky and blossoming yellow flowers and greenery.

This is a display of the mental and emotional negotiations that many face internally here. 

Image 12. A case of perfect destruction, where the stones of this broken structure have been neatly piled against its side, symbolizing the promise of future reconstruction

Here, the social perspective is reflected in the built environment and the treatment of post-war wreckage.

Image 13. Pieces of Arabic sweets—pieces of humanity and community that remain in this city.

Image 14. One can find scarcity, abundance and, most of all, contradictions in post-war Aleppo.

Here, the bleakness of cigarettes and empty glasses of coffee and water confront a local toy shop overflowing with plastic goods and colours. 

Image 15. A vendor sells mounds of garlic at the fruit and vegetable market near the Bab Antakya entrance to the Aleppo Old City. Behind them, a name is marked on the wall: 'Antar'.

Image 16. The weathered façade of dilapidated shopfronts in the Aleppo Old City, with a mix of styles and eras on display.

Some fleeting local transport brings to mind temporality and decay in the post-war space.

Image 17. Family and friends enjoying their night by the Queiq River in the Aziziyeh neighbourhood of Aleppo.

The effect of this still captures the fleeting and fragile nature of social networks post-war, as many aim to move overseas for security and better opportunities. 

Image 18. Battle scars and trauma around every corner. This city carries extremes of light and dark with limited neutrality.

Image 19. With limited lighting past a certain hour, selfies require resourcefulness. Personal images remain a social priority.

Image 20. Only one apartment is occupied amid a vertical sea of black.

Image 21. This electrical generator control box indicates that only one household resides in this apartment building.

Image 22. Tactically preparing a birthday cake after the electricity for the day has run out.

Image 23. Birthday festivities are consumed by darkness after the daily electricity cut-off.

About the author

Mia Shouha is an emerging writer, academic educator, and PhD researcher in political economy and anthropology at the University of Sydney. She holds an Honours degree in Political, Economic, and Social Sciences. Her current research explores uneven development and crisis in Lebanon and Syria, focusing on themes of war economies and financialization, sanctions, and the weaponization of agriculture and the environment in times of conflict. Mia completed the 2024 StoryCasters writing mentorship and has been published in the Journal of Australian Political Economy, Afikra’s Daftar Journal, and Al Rawiya magazine.

Endnotes

1. Francesco Bandarin, "The Destruction of Aleppo: The Impact of the Syrian War on a World Heritage City," in Cultural Heritage and Mass Atrocities, ed. James Cuno and Thomas G. Weiss (Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2022).

2. Ibid.

3. Benjamin Isakhan and Lynn Meskell, "Local Perspectives on Heritage Reconstruction After Conflict: A Public Opinion Survey of Aleppo," International Journal of Heritage Studies 30, no. 7 (2024): 821–39.

4. Lori Khatchadourian, "Life Extempore: Trials of Ruination in the Twilight Zone of Soviet Industry," Cultural Anthropology 37 (2022): 2317–48; Yael Navaro‐Yashin, "Affective Spaces, Melancholic Objects: Ruination and the Production of Anthropological Knowledge," Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 15, no. 1 (2009): 1–18.

5. Sawsan Ibrahim, "Decision-Making Methodology Between Revitalisation and Rehabilitation of World Heritage City Centers: Case Study: The Ancient City of Aleppo (Syria)," The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences 44 (2020): 255–62.

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Disclaimer

The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of the editors or the journal.