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.

Image copyright Jeremy Bowen

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

Image copyright Jeremy Bowen

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

Image copyright Jeremy Bowen

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

Image copyright Jeremy Bowen

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

Image copyright Jeremy Bowen

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

Image copyright Jeremy Bowen

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

Image copyright Jeremy Bowen

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

Image copyright Jeremy Bowen

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

Image copyright Jeremy Bowen

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

Image copyright Jeremy Bowen

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

Image copyright Jeremy Bowen

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

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