Ukraine war recalls trauma for survivors of Aleppo siege

Survivors of the Russian-backed siege of the Syrian city of Aleppo are watching in shock as Ukrainians face familiar horrors

BEIRUT -- When Afraa Hashem thinks back about living through the siege of Aleppo, she remembers how inventive everyone was.

In late 2016, Syrian government forces had sealed off Aleppo's rebel-held eastern half, with 270,000 people inside, and for months they and Russian warplanes blasted it to rubble. Food was scarce. Hashem’s family, like others, was largely surviving off one meal a day.

One day, her eldest son Wisam, 11 at the time, asked out of nowhere: “Mommy, can we have fish?”

Her three kids didn’t even really like fish. But when you have almost nothing, you miss even things you don't like, she recalled.