In pictures: East Aleppo's shattered streets

It was once Syria's largest city, but four years at the heart of the country's civil war has left much of Aleppo in ruins. The BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen has been walking through the largely deserted streets of the former rebel-held east.

A barricade in one of the abandoned, shattered districts of what used to be the rebel-held eastern side of Aleppo

Teenage lords of the ruins. The war has taken education, entire childhoods, as well as lives and limbs

In a badly damaged part of Aleppo, a fabulous display of vegetables

Eating a super fresh cucumber and keeping warm. During the siege of East Aleppo, farmers could not bring in produce

This is the only way to get water for most in East Aleppo. Some 40,000 people have already moved back into the ruins

He was collecting water for his family in East Aleppo. Look closely around his right eye. There is shrapnel under his skin

Children suffer a lot in wars, but they also adapt fast. These were chanting "Halab" (Aleppo)

In the middle of the rubble in the Old City, a baker decided that what the people really needed was cupcakes

Many children in Syria do not go to school. In East Aleppo, they have to be full partners in the struggle to survive

The empty, ruined streets of East Aleppo feel oppressive. It is as if the violence and death that happened haunt the place

A view inside the Old City of Aleppo, on the rebel side of what was the front line

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