Scenes of the combat between the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian Arab Army captures the reality of fighting inside of a densely packed urban environment.

Aleppo was the setting for some of the fiercest fighting in the Syrian Civil War. A lot of the combat footage we have on the Funker530 mobile app that comes out of that specific conflict actually takes place right inside of that city, and in the surrounding areas. The crazy thing about Aleppo is how densely packed the city is, and how difficult it was for either side to maneuver on their enemy in that area of operations. If you're not familiar with military operations in urban terrain, it's easy to just think that both sides are bad at war, but the reality is a little bit more complicated.

While it's certainly true that both sides were bad at war, the complexity of the situation only exasperated that fact. Aleppo itself was broken into neighborhoods and streets along the front-lines of the conflict. Individual blocks and alleys would need to be taken through the use of brute strength, and each required a full-scale operation in order to take control of them. In most cases, artillery couldn't safely be used due to the close proximity of friendly forces, and armor itself was increasingly useless because of the ability of fighters to ambush the armor from the top of high-rise apartment buildings.

In short, Aleppo was kind of a shit show. This video breaks it down a little bit, but it doesn't paint the full picture. What you're seeing here is a small group of FSA fighters holding back a numerically and technologically superior Syrian Arab Army force by utilizing RPGs and AK-47s. There's no need for them to really aim, as the only avenue of approach towards the ground they're holding is literally in a straight line. All the defenders need to do is pop out, face in the correct direction, and spray their weapon systems towards the enemy. If you want to get a better understanding of the complexity of the fighting in Aleppo, I highly recommend using our search feature on the mobile app to look up more footage from Aleppo.