Syrians Ride First Train Across Aleppo In Years

Hundreds of Syrians took a train through battle-scarred east Aleppo on Thursday as services resumed for the first time after four years of fighting, a photographer working with AFP said.

It was the train's first such trip since rebels overran east Aleppo in the summer of 2012, effectively dividing the northern city into a regime-held west and a rebel-controlled east.

A driver in a leather jacket ferried the full carriages from Jibreen station on the city's eastern outskirts across the city's former front line to Aleppo's main Baghdad railway station.

As they slowly moved through the rubble, the passengers -- surprised at the extent of the damage -- pulled out their mobile phones to take pictures.

On the ground in the eastern side, which is strewn with debris after years of air strikes, people gathered by the tracks, staring at the first train they had seen since 2012.