Battle to Death

In the wake of the Arab Spring, in March 2011 public demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad begin in Syria. The protest aims to lead the Syrian President to implement the reforms needed to give a democratic State. The government’s reaction is carried out by deploying armed forces to suppress the rebellion in blood. Within a short time the clashes erupt all over the country and result in a civil war, an ongoing conflict that sees the government’s forces  opposed to the Free Syrian Army coalition. During the summer of 2012, after more than a year of conflict, the bloodiest battle reaches Aleppo, the largest Syrian city become a stronghold of the revolutionary forces. The battle for the conquest of the city becomes a real massacre: everyday the revolution fighters, only armed with Kalashnikov, face the loyalist army and its tanks and airplanes.  The war is still going on and the number of dead, according to the United Nation, reaches more than 100,000. The photos are taken between October and November 2012 in Syria. For the entire period I lived with the FSA fighters reporting the strong reality of this conflict. The images try to describe the cruelty of war and its effect on the civilian population. From mid-july 2012 the Free Syrian Army fights for the control of the northern city of Aleppo. President Bashar al-Assad tries to regain command of the city using all kind of weapons, turning the war into a massacre for the civilian population.