ALEPPO: QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED Aleppo proves to be at the centre of this conflict. Much like Warsaw, it is a symbol for the country and having been vital to Syrian culture for thousands of years, the rebuilding of its heritage could revitalise the country. However, to rebuild a world heritage site is not a simple task, even to begin with. As Seth Kaplan mentioned back in 2013, and is, according to recent articles still the most probable case, the war is likely to end in a form of stalemate, with the city fragmented between the Government, Rebel, Kurdish and, possibly, other forces (Kaplan, 2013). The pragmatic and simple conclusion to the inevitable tensions of this stalemate would see a nation fragmented with large buffer zones running through the city. The more preferable option is rebuilding the city in such a way that it draws the two, maybe more, sides together. In doing so, those working on the future of Aleppo will have innumerous considerations –some of which are discussed in this chapter- that will inevitably decide who returns to the city and whether Aleppo can recapture its former glory. WHERE DO THE CURRENT DIVISIONS LIE?
Prior to the current conflict there existed divisions within the city of Aleppo. Unusually for a Syrian city, however, this was not the traditional Sunni/Shia divide born of religious belief, but one of class and clan lines.5 This has now, inevitably, evolved with the introduction of other forces into the city, most notably ISIS, which has seen further divides along religious lines. Class divisions, however, have been forcibly emphasised by the Regime as eyewitnesses state that “Syrian military has taken positions in the high-rent districts, where rebel fighters are blamed for bringing the violence from the countryside into the city” (Resneck, 2012). The wealthy support of government forces is rooted in the stability of the Regime, compared to the chaos of the Rebels and the Free Syrian Army, documented in Littles’ ‘Syrian Notebooks’. However, at a first glance, class based divisions appear easier to reconcile than religious ones. The regime, itself, has been focusing its destructive efforts on the infrastructure of Eastern Aleppo in ‘order to advance the case that life is better in government-controlled parts of the country.’ (Mackinnon, 2015). How then, as with Mostar, do international organisations 5 At least according to Edward Dark, Al-Monitor.
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