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How the Lights Have Gone Out For the People of Syria (bbc.co.uk)

Posted by BeauHD on from the catastrophic-impacts dept.

dryriver shares an excerpt from a report via the BBC that shows what the impact of the Syrian war looks like from space: Six years of war in Syria have had a devastating effect on millions of its people. One of the most catastrophic impacts has been on the country's electricity network. Images from NASA, obtained by BBC Arabic, show clearly how the lights have gone out during the course of the conflict, leaving people to survive with little to no power. Each timelapse frame shows an average of the light emitted at night every month from 2012, one year after the war began. They show that the areas where Syrians can turn lights on at night, power their daily lives and get access to life-saving medical equipment, have shrunk dramatically. The city of Aleppo was Syria's powerhouse and home to over two million people. But the country's industrial hub became a battleground and remained so for more than four years. Russian airstrikes against Syrian rebels began in October 2015 and the timelapse shows the city in almost complete darkness at night throughout 2016, when the battle for Aleppo was at its peak. As mains power supplies dropped off, ordinary people had to be creative in finding alternative sources for light and power.

4 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. End the War by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ending the war is simple - the "rebels" should surrender. They have no chance of winning, not anymore.

  2. Re:Hillary would have gone to war with... by Uberbah · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Right. Hillary totally said "Let's attack Russia."

    Which it totally part and parcel of vowing to enforce a no-fly zone in an area patrolled by Russian jets. If it was Putin promising to enforce a no-carrier-fleet policy in the region, threatening to sink American aircraft carriers and other vessels in the process, would you argue with people who said Putin said "let's attack the US"?

    then you might accidentally hit Russian planes, and then everything will spiral out of control

    Uh, yeah. The first world war was started over less. President Hillary starts enforcing her no-fly zone and some Russian jets are shot down. Then Russia starts enforcing Syrian sovereignty and starts shooting down U.S. jets - and navy ships firing missiles. You really need a picture painted for how this "spirals out of control" in a few very short, easy steps?

    the US at present actually maintains de facto no-fly zones over Kurdish and Daesh territory (including threatening Assad with shooting down his aircraft if they took off during a Kurdish uprising in al-Hasakah), and Turkey maintains their own no-fly zone in northern Syria... forgetting about all of that.

    Yes, for forgetting all those violations of Syria's sovereignty, all those acts of war.

    Trump outright bombed a Syrian base to bits.

    Syrian. Not Russian. But the goalposts do look quite lovely in the new location you've chosen for them.

    but meanwhile in our universe, they gave Trump high poll ratings for his actions. Because of course, consistency isn't their strong suit.

    As if consistency is the strong suit of Democrats? They switched so fast from hating Comey to singing his praises, it's a wonder they aren't all in traction from herniated disks. Besides, there's a gap between your premise and your conclusion - Republicans have loved imperialism and bombing other countries for several decades now - you think this is a change for them?

  3. Night sky by jargonburn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So much less light pollution, the night sky is probably stunning! Except for the glare from the occasional rockets, I mean.

  4. Re:Hillary would have started a war over this by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why would the United States government agree to such a partition?

    I would be willing to let them keep Texas.