If there is one place on earth that could be likened to hell, the badly battered Syrian city of Aleppo could be it.
In fact a Jesuit priest who oversees humanitarian projects in the city recently described the place as "hell," saying the horrors of war in Aleppo have resulted in a city of 5 million inhabitants reduced to 1.5 million.
Speaking to The Christian Post, Jesuit Father Ziad Hilal, who represents the Catholic group Aid to the Church in Need in Syria, said countless lives have been lost in the city, leaving countless numbers of widows and orphans.
"Trees and park benches are chopped off [for] heating in winter due to the scarcity of fuel," he said.
Hilal said many homeless families are "living in the streets and deserted factories and under construction buildings from before the war, in this cold winter."
"This is a catastrophe for the upcoming generation, let alone the diseases that are spreading among the children and women," he said, pointing out that many families have been left without a father.
The priest said Christians wouldn't have thought of leaving Aleppo if it weren't "for the hell in which they are living."
"The humanitarian conditions are horrific. The city has been without electricity for the past six months! Even when the power lines are operating normally, only one or two hours of service, at best, is provided. Water is cut off routinely and many parts of Aleppo are still left without water for 40 days now," he said.
"The old historic churches located in the old city area are destroyed beyond restoration. Aleppo was home to 120,000 Christians before the war; now only 30,000 remain," he revealed, adding that many Christian residents of the city have fled to other areas in Syria and to foreign destinations such as Lebanon, Europe, the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
As for the children still enduring life in Aleppo, Hilal said they haven't had a school to attend in over three years and aren't being educated.
But despite all these horrors, the priest said Christmas is bringing renewed "hope for peace" for Christians and even non-Christians in Aleppo.
Christmas serves as a reminder to people that God is with them despite their sufferings, Hilal said.
"Despite the harsh conditions, the people of Aleppo are enduring, [for both] Christians and Muslims, Christmas brings the hope for peace that we have missed for the last five years," he said.
On Thursday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies announced that the remaining rebels have pulled out of the city, paving the way toward a political solution to the crisis.
But the following day, Syrian rebels once again shelled Aleppo and air strikes resumed around the city, Reuters reported.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights—a war monitor based in Britain—said six people, including two children, were killed during the shelling.
