A woman says low-flying aircraft mean that barrel bombs are again about to fall on eastern Aleppo. Terrible seconds elapse as she anticipates an explosion that will topple a wall or an entire building on her. She imagines death, but then opens her eyes to realize that she still lives.
A teacher, Wissam Zarqa, says his senses sometimes play tricks on him. His ears hear a warplane that turns out not to be there. Modar Shekho, a nurse, says that the bombings and destruction, and terrified people fleeing, have become part of his daily routine.
These and other residents of eastern Aleppo describe the terror that rises in them every time they see a plane cross the sky. While the bombing of the city abated over the weekend as the United Nations tried to negotiate a halt to the conflict, it resumed on Monday after the talks failed.
Humanitarian agencies have pleaded for relief from the assaults, which they say have destroyed or incapacitated all hospitals in the rebel-held part of the city.
