ALEPPO, Syria, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) — It never occurred to 18-year-old Hussam Shama that the horror movies he watched on TV could take place right next to the confectionary shop in the city of Aleppo.
For Shama, those horror movies are now a fickle comedy compared with the fear he and Aleppo citizens experience daily.
Standing beside his confectionary shop in Adonis Street in the government-controlled part west of Aleppo, Shama was ashen-faced when recounting what he recently witnessed.
“A man and his wife were walking toward their car. The man reached for his keys, while the woman was blowing her nose waiting to get in. Suddenly, a mortar shell struck their car, and the next thing I saw was the couple crawling while on fire,” Shama told Xinhua.
He said both were burning alive as people attempted to extinguish the fire with buckets of water, in vain however.
“The man died soon after, but the woman stayed alive a little longer. Ambulances were late to arrive, and she passed away,” he said.
On the sidewalk by the parked car, as a little boy passed by, he too died from the same mortar explosion.
“A shrapnel sliced through his head, cutting a peace of his brain out,” Shama recounted.
Shama said that “life in Aleppo is like living in a horror movie,” as people never know when a stray mortar will strike their homes or themselves.
Alaa Jaban, another shopkeeper in Adonis street, earlier this week said that as he was sipping his morning coffee by his shop, a mortar shell struck the shop next to his, killing his 60-year-old neighbor.
“I was drinking the morning coffee when suddenly a rocket slammed nearby, making me jump from fear. Later on people came and helped us put out the fire.”
Jaban said mortar attacks have intensified since last week in Adonis street.
“Unfortunately, we became used to these kinds of attacks. Every time a mortar shell falls, we clean the street and pray for salvation.”
Jaban added that after any attack in Aleppo, people simply wipe away the blood, clean the streets free from debris, and resume their lives normally as if nothing happened.
Driving through Aleppo, one easily spots the scorched cars and shattered windows everywhere from the random mortar shells attacking western Aleppo since rebels took over the eastern part of the city in 2012.
Shopkeepers usually decide their shops’ closing times depending on whether there is an intense mortar attack, in which case they close shop and leave early, and in the absence of mortar attacks they stay open for the evening.
That was the government’s rhetoric regarding what is taking place in that part of Aleppo, where rebels fire mortar shells, improvised rockets, and explosive-packed gas cylinders.
As for the opposition, activists accuse government forces of shelling such areas with barrel bombs, airstrikes as well as mortar shells.
Amid the shelling from both sides, civilians are paying the highest price.
Qadri, a goldsmith from Aleppo, told Xinhua that life in Aleppo is full of horrors, particularly living through random and sudden attacks and shelling.
Drinking coffee in his shop, Qadri said he often attempts to conquer his fears, explaining that to some extent people have become accustomed to the volatile situation.
“When I feel weary and stressed, I turn on the TV to watch music video clips of beautiful women artists, and it makes me forget about the situation for a minute or two but afterwards I still have to deal with the situation here,” he said with a smile.
Yet, civilians in western Aleppo are hopeful following the Syrian army’s recent advance into rebel-held areas in the eastern part of the city, controlling 98 percent of these areas.
