Devastating photos offer a glimpse inside Syria's fiercest battleground — one of the 3 oldest cities in human history

The epicenter of Syria's brutal civil war shifted decisively last week to the country's largest city, Aleppo, which remains divided between regime loyalists in the west and rebel forces in the east.

Since April 22, 250 people have been killed — 140 of them in airstrikes and 96 by rebel shelling, according to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. At least 40 children have been among the dead.

The violence has continued into the weekend: roughly 30 airstrikes pounded Aleppo on Saturday, marking the ninth-consecutive day of deadly bombardments.

Aleppo — along with Syria's capital, Damascus, and Sana'a, in Yemen — is one of the three oldest inhabited cities in human history.

The Citadel of Aleppo, a medieval fortified palace in the center of the old city, is one of the oldest and largest castles in the world. Its usage dates back at least to the middle of the third millennium BC.

In 2004, Aleppo was chosen by the Islamic conference organization to become the capital of Arab-Islamic culture.

Source: Reuters