Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The geography of death in Aleppo (3) Fixed checkpoints and mobile militias A taxonomy of checkpoints The checkpoint is one of the most important technologies of death that the Syrian forces use in urban spaces. Their function is to segment the city into smaller sectors that are easier to control. There are different types of checkpoints in Aleppo that vary in size, the types of weaponry used, and their dangerousness. The large checkpoints with heavy weaponry, such as tanks or armored personnel carriers, are usually deployed at strategic points such as the entrance of the city or nearby security branches or military facilities. While most checkpoints are fixed, some of them are mobile and move to locations unexpected by the enemy. In addition, the regime deployed many checkpoints within west Aleppo to segment the territory and control the circulation of the population. The largest checkpoints, however, are in the buffer zones, the spaces between the regime and opposition. Their function...

The geography of death in Aleppo (2) The protests and grassroots movement in Aleppo Aleppans organized their first protest on March 25, 2011, just a few days after the initial demonstrations in Damascus and Dara’a. Aleppo shopkeepers organized two successful general strikes in June.30 June 30 became known as the “Volcano of Aleppo,” and protests took to the streets in at least ten different locations. A few weeks later, on August 17, protesters reached Saadallah al-Jabiri Square, Aleppo’s Tahrir Square, in large numbers for the first time. The largest protest to date, however, was during the burial of Aleppo’s Mufti, Ibrahim al-Salqini, on September 6, 2011, when protesters marched in the Old City and chanted “Better death than humiliation!” At that point, protests, many of which were spontaneous, were organized on a daily basis at Aleppo University. Lawyers and the Bar Association issued a statement to denounce the violence of the regime, and held a protest at the Palace of Justice th...

  The Geography of Death in Aleppo (1) Leave, convert, or die. —King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to the Jews of Spain Down with the regime and the opposition… Down with the Arab and Muslim Worlds… Down with the United Nations Security Council… Down with the World… Down with Everything… —Occupied Kafranbel, October 14, 2011 Aleppo, once Syria’s capital of classical music, sophisticated cuisine, and Islamic culture, today lies in ruins. Insurgents controlled two-thirds of the city for four years before it fell to the regime in December 2016. This chapter begins with a brief urban history that explores the ways Aleppo’s urban fabric has evolved since the mid-nineteenth century. It argues that the city’s urban forms from various historical stages, including the Ottoman Empire, French Mandate, and post-independence, have been reorganized and utilized by the Syrian forces since 2011 to break the city.  Using the concept of “urbicide” (the deliberate and systematic destruction of a ...