Battle to Death

Spot News, second prize stories

October 20, 2012

Aleppo, Syria Rebels look on as a comrade prepares to throw a homemade grenade at a government army position, in the Al-Amariya district.   The Syrian commercial hub of Aleppo was the scene of some of the bloodiest clashes in the ongoing uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Both government and opposition forces considered control of Aleppo to be strategically important to their aims. The FSA first seized parts of the city in July. In the months that followed, government forces battled to recapture it, with limited success. By the end of the year, the Syrian military had control over a western segment of the city, with the rebels entrenched in much of the east and south. Some of the fiercest fighting was in and around the Old City.

Commissioned by Agence France-Presse

Photo Credit: Fabio Bucciareli

Before becoming a documentary photographer, Fabio Bucciarelli received a MSc in engineering from the Polytecnico di Torino. He also attended the Universitat Politècnica de València, where he specialized in digital imaging.

From 2009, he devoted himself entirely to photography and started working as a staff photographer for La Presse/AP.

Bucciarelli has won several international awards, and his work has been published in The New York Times, Stern, The Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, LA Times, Foreign Policy, Vanity Fair, L’Espresso, La Repubblica, and La Stampa, among others. In recent years, he has covered major conflicts and their aftermaths around the world.

Bucciarelli feels an urgent need to tell the stories of people who are rendered powerless and to provide unbiased information focused on human rights. He recently wrote the book The Smell of the War, about the conflict in Libya.