Restoration of souks brings old Aleppo city to life

ALEPPO, Syria－The immense devastation in the ancient marketplace of Aleppo gives off a sense of despair and bleakness to strangers. But for the people of Aleppo, gone are the days of wallowing in misery as they have rolled up their sleeves and started picking up the pieces and getting back on their feet.

Damage in the formerly rebelheld eastern part of Aleppo city in northern Syria is immense but the devastation there and the difficulties created by Western sanctions on Syria have not discouraged the local people from rebuilding their homes with their own hands.

Some marketplaces and squares in eastern Aleppo have seen small-scale restoration since the city was fully returned to government control in late 2016.

Almost all the roads in the old city have been reopened and cleaned up. And while damage to buildings is still obvious and gives the chills when one tries to imagine what happened there, life is emerging like a green leaf sprouting from a dead plant or a green oasis in the heart of a desert.

In December 2018, reporters from Xinhua News Agency in Damascus visited the al-Saqatiyah souk, a centuries-old Aleppo market located in an area listed as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.

At that time, workers were removing the rubble of the war, and climbing up to the roof of the souk to fix it.

Engineers then said it would take them at least six months to rebuild the souk. It was reopened in October.

When the Xinhua reporters visited the souk recently, the site's grayish walls and bumpy, rocky floor had been turned into an eye-pleasing venue that has the spirit of the old architecture and the freshness of a new marketplace.

Inside the souk, vendors had resumed operations after eight years of stagnation due to the war and the presence of the rebels in the area.

Marwan Ghothi, 70, had been running his shop in al-Saqatiyah since 1967 before he left it when the war broke out.

He is now back selling dried fruit and nuts, holding fast to the belief that tomorrow will be brighter for Aleppo.

"When the area was liberated and the problems were ended here, we were able to return with the help of the local associations. We helped each other to return to our shops and businesses and our lives turned from despair and gloominess to hopefulness," he said.

Al-Saqatiyah is one of the few souks that has been repaired in old Aleppo but it's not the last.

Currently, rehabilitation work is being carried out in the Khabiya souk, which is also located in the old marketplace of Aleppo. This souk is being rehabilitated with the help of the United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP.

Amer Qawaf, a project manager with UNDP, said, "We are carrying out rehabilitation in this souk, such as restoring the masonry to its original style to show the character of the market because this is an ancient souk."