Aleppo: After the Evacuation
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 12 January 2017
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What happened after the buses left eastern Aleppo in December?
After four and a half years of siege, the residents of eastern Aleppo were evacuated before Christmas. But the evacuees didn't disappear when they left the city and the Syrian Civil war didn't end with the end of the siege.
Abdelkafi, an English teacher from Aleppo, relates his experience of leaving Aleppo by bus with his wife and young daughter. He describes days of hardship taking place under the eyes of the West.
And as international figures prepare for negotiations in Geneva, David Aaronovitch finds out what the fall of Aleppo means for its citizens, Syria and the Middle East.
Joining David in The Briefing Room are: Marianne Gasser, Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Syria Lina Khatib, Head of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House Aron Lund, Fellow of the Century Foundation
Producer: Hannah Sander Researchers: Serena Tarling and Kirsteen Knight.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich. |
| 0:10.9 | We didn't want to leave our land, leave our history, our friends, our schools, our house. |
| 0:18.6 | We didn't want this. |
| 0:20.7 | December, Syria, the city of Aleppo. |
| 0:24.4 | After four and a half years of siege, the residents of Eastern Aleppo were being evacuated. |
| 0:29.8 | We had only two choices, dying by hunger, by pain, because there were no hospitals, |
| 0:37.3 | by lack of clean water, by lack of every kind of life there, |
| 0:42.3 | or to live. |
| 0:44.3 | But the evacuees didn't disappear on evacuation, and the Syrian Civil War didn't end with the end of the siege. |
| 0:51.3 | It's more peaceful, but I don't know for when. |
| 0:56.0 | You know, because any moment, the bombing, the firing, the fights might be back. |
| 1:03.0 | I hope that one day I'm going back to Elipo, but Alipo without Assad, |
| 1:08.0 | Alipo, without oppression, with free thoughts, with democratic thoughts. |
| 1:14.7 | This is what I want to be. |
| 1:19.6 | In the briefing room today, I'll be exploring with experts and aid workers |
| 1:23.9 | where the end of the siege of Aleppo has left its citizens, Syria and the region. |
| 1:30.0 | With me in the studio here in London is Lena Khatib, head of the Middle East and North Africa |
| 1:34.9 | programme at Chatham House. On the line from Geneva, having returned this week from Damascus, |
| 1:40.5 | is Marianne Gasser, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Syria, |
| 1:45.6 | and joining us from Stockholm is Aaron Lund, writer and fellow of the Century Foundation, |
| 1:51.6 | which is a US think tank. |
| 1:53.7 | Aaron Lund, if I could just begin with you, could you explain to us the importance of Aleppo as a Syrian city? |
... |
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