PHOTOGRAPHER and former White Horse News reporter Sam Tarling has been back in Syria, and his images from war zones have been broadcast on the American TV channel CNN.
Sam, pictured, recently spent three days inside Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, with reporter Zak Brophy. Zak was interviewed by CNN, who wanted to use Sam’s evocative and sometimes disturbing images of life in the city to accompany the report.
Located in the north-west of the country, Aleppo is Syria’s main industrial and financial centre and has become a key battleground between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. Part of the city is also a Unesco world heritage site.
In his report Zak Brophy explains, “When we first arrived within the city I was instantly shocked. Whole neighbourhoods wiped out and destruction all over the streets, cars buried amongst rubble, all of the businesses, all of the markets closed. There was a real sense of desolation.
“Whole areas, where there were hundreds if not thousands of small and medium enterprises within the city’s old manufacturing areas – they’re a war zone now, there is no-one there, there is no business there.
“When I first visited Aleppo several years back it was alive with activity, thriving busy markets, busy industrial centres, you really felt that Aleppo was – if you like – the pulsing heart of the Syrian economy.
“The level of destruction I’ve seen in the city…. my fears are how long this is going to take to reverse and bring back the industrial and economic life. There’s not much faith that what’s happening in Aleppo is going to reverse any time soon.”
It was Sam’s fourth visit to Syria since the conflict started. But he says experience does not harden a reporter or photographer to the turmoil. “Really, it was one of the saddest things I’ve ever witnessed.
“It’s a mess. Unlike lots of the rural towns, in Aleppo it was mostly fighters from the countryside that came to the city so the residents are caught in the middle of a battle they don’t really want to be a part of. There’s still life going on but there’s constant danger for the residents, the worst being risk of getting caught in an airstrike. We visited a place where just that morning a plane had destroyed six houses killing 18 people, and also a place which had just been bombed. They were still pulling bodies out of the rubble. The worst thing about the planes is that they seem to strike at random anywhere in the city, there was evidence of damage caused by bombing in almost every neighbourhood we visited.
“The areas close to the front lines are almost completely deserted but in the other areas there are still lots of people. Sadly the fighting seems to have reached something of a stalemate for now, so I don’t think things will be getting much better for the people of Aleppo any time soon.”
