Warfare and chaos have come to the ancient streets of Aleppo, Syria's largest city. Rebel groups battling Syrian government forces moved into the metropolis in recent weeks, in an effort to liberate it from the control of Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. Fierce street battles and air attacks followed, leaving behind a shattered city, strewn with charred rubble and bodies in many places. An estimated 30,000 Syrians have already been killed in the past 18 months of civil war, and as many as 700,000 will have fled the country by the end of 2012, according to the United Nations.
Destruction Comes to Aleppo
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A Syrian man cries while holding the body of his son near Dar El Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria, on October 3, 2012. Three suicide bombers detonated cars packed with explosives in a government-controlled area of the battleground Syrian city of Aleppo on Wednesday, killing at least 34 people, leveling buildings and trapping survivors under the rubble, state TV said. More than 120 people were injured, the government said. #
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Smoke billows from a burning textile factory after a nearby position held by Syrian rebels was shelled by regime forces in the neighborhood of Arqub in the northern city of Aleppo, on September 30, 2012. Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad shelled rebel-held areas across Syria as fierce clashes were reported in second city Aleppo where a fire tore through a medieval souk. #
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Fighters with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) speak with government forces nearby, as they hide behind shutters in an apartment in the Seif al-Dawla neighborhood of Aleppo, on September 11, 2012. Snipers took positions on rooftops and strategic places in Aleppo's old city, preventing government soldiers from approaching rebel-controlled areas. #
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A survivor of a strike by Syrian regime forces, outside a hospital as he arrives to be treated for his wounds in the Sheikh Fares district of Aleppo, on September 18, 2012. #
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A Syrian man holds his robe while walking in the partially destroyed Salaheddin neighborhood of Aleppo, under the control of the Syrian army, on September 3, 2012. Syrian troops backed by artillery and warplanes fought rebels on multiple fronts on September 5 as peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi described the death toll as "staggering" and destruction "catastrophic." #
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Click to view imageSyrian government forces look at bodies of alleged rebel fighters in a ditch beside a road leading to Aleppo's airport, after they were killed by Syrian government forces on October 2, 2012. #
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A member of Syria's government forces gestures near the partially destroyed entrance of Aleppo's historical citadel, on September 4, 2012. The citadel is regarded as one of the oldest and largest castles in the world, in use for more than 4,000 years. #
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Smoke rises over a battle-scarred Saif Al Dawla district in Aleppo, Syria, on October 2, 2012. The U.N.'s deputy secretary-general says U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon made a strong appeal to Syria's foreign minister to stop using heavy weapons against civilians and reduce the violence that is killing 100 to 200 people every day. #
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A wounded woman, still in shock, leaves Dar El Shifa hospital in Aleppo, on September 20, 2012. Two months into the battle for Syria's largest city, civilians are still bearing the brunt of the daily assaults of helicopter gunships, roaring jets and troops fighting in the streets. #
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The body of a 7 year old boy killed by a Syrian Army sniper lies in Dar Al Shifa hospital in Aleppo, on September 20, 2012. Dozens of Syrian civilians were killed on Thursday, four children among them, in artillery shelling by government forces in Aleppo. #
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A Syrian man carrying grocery bags tries to dodge sniper fire as he runs through an alley near a checkpoint manned by the Free Syria Army in Aleppo, on September 14, 2012. #
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A Free Syrian Army soldier, right, uses a mirror to help him see Syrian troops around the corner, as he takes a position with his comrade during fighting in Aleppo, on September 24, 2012. Most of those fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad are ordinary Syrians and soldiers who have defected, having become fed up with the authoritarian government, analysts say. But increasingly, foreign fighters and those adhering to an extremist Islamist ideology are turning up on the front lines. #
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A damaged ceiling in he Bab Antakya district of Old Aleppo, on October 2, 2012. Aleppo's Old City is one of several locations in Syria declared world heritage sites by UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, that are now at risk from the fighting. #
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Syrian rebel fighters repair a grenade launcher some 50 meters away from Syrian government troops during fighting in Aleppo's northern Izaa quarter, on September 27, 2012. #
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Click to view imageA photograph, taken through a hole in a damaged building in the neighborhood of Al-Amiriya, Aleppo, shows the decomposing body of a Syrian rebel on a street, on September 24, 2012. #
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Destruction due to bombing by Syrian regime forces in Aleppo, on September 23, 2012. Regime aircraft hammered insurgent positions nationwide as rebels said they now control most of the country and have moved their command center from Turkey to "liberated areas" inside Syria. #
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Medics carry Fatima Qassim, 6, whose legs were badly injured after government forces fired on her family's car, to the emergency room in a hospital in Aleppo, on September 11, 2012. #
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Battle-damaged buildings in Aleppo's Salaheddin neighborhood, following weeks of clashes and battles between Syrian rebels and government forces, photographed on October 3, 2012. #
Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images
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