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Aleppo's Christians face rising violence

The recent happenings in Syria are far from promising as conflicts intensify and fighting increases.
A woman reacts while civil defence members carry her dead child after what activists said was shelling by warplanes loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Aleppo's rebel-controlled Bab Al-Nairab district April 12, 2015. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail  - RTR4X059

The people of the war-ravaged city of Aleppo have been through some very bad times during the past 2½ years of civil war, and they have gotten used to living in constant fear and uncertainty. The specter of death was ever-present; it never left them, not even inside their own homes or in their own beds. Yet, for all their tenacity, the events of Good Friday — April 10, according to the Eastern Christian calendar that most Syrian Christians observe — were a terror-filled nightmare that sent new shockwaves of despair and terror.

As rebel rockets and shells rained down through the night on the predominantly Christian neighborhood of Sulaimaniyah in west Aleppo, just a short distance from one of the city’s many front lines, there was mass panic as buildings collapsed, killing and injuring dozens, while others remained trapped under the rubble. Residents began to flee in the darkness, not really knowing where to head to as ambulances, fire trucks and rescue workers attempted to tackle the ongoing carnage. The atmosphere of fear and terror was exacerbated by a city in a perpetual state of darkness with almost no power and limited communication and Internet access following the collapse of vital infrastructure after the provincial capital of Idlib was taken over by Islamist groups on March 28.

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