Damascus and other Syrian cities have been reduced to ruins over the last five years. The images evoke scenes from a post-apocalyptic video game.

A tweet from Melissa Fleming, the Chief Communications and Spokesperson at UNHCR: Next time someone wonders why refugees are risking everything to come to Europe, show them this (footage):

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJhdo3PcSo8
“… The minute-and-a-half video was uploaded on Tuesday (Feb. 3, 2016) to a YouTube channel operated by Alexander Pushin, a cameraman who runs a drone filming company, Russia Works, and who has taken several videos of Syria’s war-torn landscape. In his latest video, whose date of origin was unclear, the camera travels at low altitude between buildings and alleyways in Homs, a central city that had been home to a prewar population of one million people. It is almost completely empty of life” (By Mike McPhate, THE NEW YORK TIMES, Feb. 3, 2016).

“…While his drone footage from Syria has been described as propaganda designed to promote Russia’s military involvement in the country, the startling scale of devastation it exposes is beyond question” (By Charlie Atkin, INDEPENDENT, Feb. 2, 2016).