Building collapse in Aleppo ruins kills 11

A building damaged during years of war in the Syrian northern city of Aleppo collapsed yesterday, killing 11 people, including four children. The collapse underlines the immensity of the work involved in making safe the Syrian city which suffered most in the civil war.

Aleppo had been divided for four years, starting in the summer of 2012, between a government-held west and a rebel-held east. In 2016, the Syrian army launched a months-long offensive that eventually brought the whole city under government control.

Syria’s nearly eight-year conflict has left more than 400,000 people dead and much of the country destroyed.