Aleppo, Syria
Aleppo is a city in Syria, serving as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,132,100 (2004 census), Aleppo was the largest Syrian city before the Syrian Civil War; however, now Aleppo is likely the second-largest city in Syria after the capital Damascus. Aleppo is an ancient metropolis, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world; it may have been inhabited since the 6th millennium BC. Excavations at Tell as-Sawda and Tell al-Ansari, just south of the old city of Aleppo, show that the area was occupied by Amorites since at least the latter part of the 3rd millennium BC; and this is also when Aleppo is first mentioned in cuneiform tablets unearthed in Ebla and Mesopotamia, in which it is a part of the Amorite state of Yamhad, and noted for its commercial and military proficiency. Such a long history is attributed to its strategic location as a trading centre midway between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia (i.e. modern Iraq). For centuries, Aleppo was the largest city in the Syrian region, and the Ottoman Empire's third-largest after Constantinople and Cairo. It was also one of the largest cities in the Levant before the advent of the Syrian Civil War. The city's significance in history has been its location at one end of the Silk Road, which passed through central Asia and Mesopotamia. When the Suez Canal was inaugurated in 1869, trade was diverted to sea and Aleppo began its slow decline. At the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Aleppo ceded its northern hinterland to modern Turkey, as well as the important railway connecting it to Mosul. In the 1940s, it lost its main access to the sea, Antakya and Iskenderun, also to Turkey. Finally, the isolation of Syria in the past few decades further exacerbated the situation. This decline may have helped to preserve the old city of Aleppo, its medieval architecture and traditional heritage. It won the title of the "Islamic Capital of Culture 2006", and has had a wave of successful restorations of its historic landmarks. Since the Battle of Aleppo started in 2012, the city has suffered massive destruction, and has been the worst-hit city in the Syrian Civil War. In December 2016, the Syrian government achieved full control of Aleppo following a successful offensive. More information is available on Wikipedia
This week our tour around the world stops over the city of Aleppo or Ḩalab (ancient Beroea), a city in northern Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate. It lies on a plateau 427 m (1,400 ft) high, midway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates River. The second largest city in Syria, Aleppo is an agricultural trading centre and has factories producing carpets; silk, cotton, and wool textiles; silver and gold artefacts; leather goods; and embroidery. The city is connected by rail to Damascus and Beirut (in Lebanon), and by caravan route to Iraq, the Kurdish Cultural Region, and Turkish Armenia. Aleppo consists of an old and a new town; the former is enclosed by a medieval wall. Among the most important buildings are the modern citadel, surrounded by a moat and standing on a hill 61 m high, and the Mosque of Zacharias, said to contain the tomb of John the Baptist's father. Also in Aleppo are a number of European schools, Christian churches, and missions. The University of Aleppo was founded in 1960. In the 3rd century AD, Aleppo became the most important centre of trade between Europe and the Orient. The history of the city, which was a Hittite settlement before 1000 BC, parallels that of Syria. The old part of Aleppo was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. In these images acquired by the Landsat 7 and 8 satellites with a time window (before/after) of seventeen years, we aim to show the dramatic effect of the Battle of Aleppo which began on 19 July 2012. In this image comparision, the growth of the urbean area around the old city is visible, as well as the effect the war had during this time window. Another aim of these images is to promote the opportunity to download Landsat data through the ESA portals, where images captured every day are made available in near real time to the users and the scientific community. Landsat full resolution data products are freely available for immediate download at:  View Landsat 7 ETM high resolution image (JPG 251 KB) View Landsat 8 OLI high resolution image (JPG 267 KB)
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