<em>Domicide</em>—War on the City

Mohamed Al Mufti, "Concerto for Two Violins and a Tank," oil on canvas, 130x130cm, 2019 (courtesy of the artist).

5 NOVEMBER 2023 • By Ammar Azzouz
Gaza is reminiscent of the military campaign against Raqqa. While combatants might change, carpet bombing of Middle Eastern cities is nothing new.

 

 

Ammar Azzouz

 

Wars of our time, sometimes fought in our name, are not in the trenches; they are fought street-to-street, house-to-house, one home after another. Why does a hospital, a kindergarten, always seem to be hit in every outbreak of hostilities? After nearly four decades of reporting on conflict, I now often say: Civilians are not close to the frontlines; they are the frontline.

 — Lyse Doucet, BBC Chief International Correspondent


For over a decade now, the built environment in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya has been radically transformed through the mass destruction of cities and villages and, before them, many cities throughout different times in history, such as Warsaw, Coventry, Hiroshima and Sarajevo, have been destroyed due to human conflicts and wars. The relationship between the built environment and violence, wars and conflicts has been widely researched. This increasingly growing body of research has focused on different lenses to theorize the geographical shifts of urban conflicts towards cities, their spatiality and their political causes and consequences. The built environment within cities, towns and villages has become the site of battlefields and contestation as conflicts have moved beyond conventional armies.

Domicide is published by Bloomsbury.

As Saskia Sassen notes, nowadays, major cities are likely to be the frontline during wars, which is different from the two World Wars when large armies needed skies, oceans and fields to fight. The shift of conflicts towards everyday spaces has meant that an entire way of living has collapsed. Residents find themselves at the heart of conflict. Tanks enter their neighborhoods, snipers occupy their buildings and fighting groups knock down walls across homes to access the neighborhood. In war on cities, soft targets such as bakery shops, schools and local markets are attacked, making every day life a war in itself.

In contested cities, dividing lines emerge to control people’s mobility and separate communities from one another. Public spaces become contested about who has the right to access them and who can protest in these spaces. Conflict infrastructure such as walls, fences, buffer zones, cement blocks and checkpoints emerge spatially within the built environment to segregate communities and create sectarian and homogeneous geographies. With the emergence of these dividing frontiers, even infrastructure projects including main roads and train lines become sharp dividing edges between communities. 

Urban studies “as a discipline has been surprisingly slow to analyze how the experience of cities in the ‘South’ might cause us to rethink urban knowledge in urban theory,” writes Colin McFarlane. This also applies to the urban violence research that has been geographically limited. Mona Harb highlights the need to diversify the perspectives of urban studies on the city at war. She explains how current urban studies on conflict “very much privilege cities of the global North, while cities at war elsewhere are less explored, even though they are increasingly the target of the US and Europe’s defense strategies, as well as the testing ground of many of the military and informational technologies implanted in policing and securing urban neighborhoods.” These limitations are reflected by the lack of writing about cities that went through radical destruction in the aftermath of the Arab Spring in countries such as Libya, Yemen and Iraq. There is a little scholarly work on what happened in these countries and how cities have been reshaped by long-term conflicts.

An example of this lack of knowledge is the destruction of Raqqa, a Syrian city that has become synonymous with ruins and urban misery. Between June and October 2017, the city was the site of mass bombardment by the Global Coalition led by the US (it included several forces, e.g. UK and France.) With thousands of airstrikes within the four-month period (including 30,000 US artillery rounds), at least 1,600 civilians were killed and 80 percent of the city has been reduced to rubble. The destruction included residential areas of people’s homes, leaving tens of thousands of buildings uninhabitable.

Raqqa is an example of a city that has been destroyed by foreign powers, but to date no academic research focuses on the city and its destruction. Other cities, including Gaza, Misrata, Deir ez-Zur, Mosul and Taiz remain underexposed despite all the losses each of these cities has endured. Other cities that were bombed and destroyed by foreign powers have been the focus of some academic research, such as the case of Belgrade which was bombed by NATO in 1999.

This lack of studies on cities among the post-Arab Spring cities contrasts with the writings on urban violence in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in cities such as Brussels, Paris and London. The main question that should be asked is why do scholars on urban studies focus on certain contested areas and why do they avoid cities destroyed in the Arab region? Does this align with the “First” and “Third” World prejudice where some lives and cities are less valued than others?

 

Domicide: The Destruction of Home

Whilst a growing body of work has emerged the past decade on the relationship between the built environment and violence in Syria, little attention has been focused on the consequences of destruction on impacted communities. In Life and Words: Violence and the Descent into the Ordinary, Veena Das writes that her main interest in her book is not in describing “the moments of horror, but rather in describing what happens to the subject and the world when the memory of such events is folded into ongoing relationships.” Like Das, my own interest lies in the aftermath of destruction, in the violence that takes place in everyday urban life and in the impact of this violence on communities whose lives have been reshaped by the horrors of war.

I therefore ask: What does it mean to lose one’s home? What does it mean to be uprooted from one’s home and from the people you love and cherish? What does it mean to lose something every day? To lose the familiar streets, buildings and squares, to lose your city — even when you lose them, slowly and gradually. What does it mean to walk on the path of life knowing that even the return to the ruins of your city, the chance to say a final goodbye to the ones you lost, the visit to your erased home, is impossible?

J. Douglas Porteous and Sandra E. Smith define domicide as the: “planned, deliberate destruction of home causing suffering to the dwellers.” This destruction tends to reinforce existing socio-spatial struggles of segregation, inequality and oppressions forced upon people who have already been penalized, disadvantaged and excluded.

Domicide puts “home” as a central concept (Latin: domus), and the deliberate destruction of this home through its suffix, “cide.” The suffix “cide” refers not to the death or decline but rather to the deliberate killing, as in suicide or urbicide.

The intentional destruction of home is selective, causing deep suffering to individuals and communities. Yunpeng Zhang who writes about the social suffering and symbolic violence in Shanghai, China notes that what victims of domicide have in common is their unaccountability in social and numeric senses. Some bodies are seen as irrelevant, and in some cases, land has even become more valuable than the people who live on it. Constructing unaccountability takes on several disguises according to Zhang. At best, a paternalistic view is constructed projecting victims of domicide as inferior and that domicide is in their own interest. As a result, domicidal projects are based on the normalization of victims of domicide, portraying their suffering as a sacrifice for the collective good. In the worse case, however, the “othering” processes within communities constructs an image that dehumanizes the victims of domicide or even considers them enemies of the state who need to be defeated, displaced, punished or killed.

 

Wartime Domicide

In times of war and conflict, people’s homes and their cultural heritage are destroyed not only for “military purposes” or in the name of “the war on terror,” but rather are also demolished, bulldozed and bombed willfully. Scholars and activists have shown how the built environment has been weaponized in Syria. The destruction of people’s homes has been seen as a tool for punishment, displacement and violence against those who oppose the regime or sympathize with the uprising. The leveling of people’s homes did not only mean the eradication of physical buildings and structures, but also meant the eradication of the conditions of possibility and existence for their personal identities. 

Through domicide, people have been either killed or forcibly displaced away from the areas which they lived. Their entire way of life has collapsed, causing more suffering to people who have already been marginalized and are struggling. This happened in many towns and cities in Syria where the government erased “informal” areas at the time of conflict. Even now, after years of destruction as in Hama, these ruined neighborhoods have been kept without any development. Destruction of the built environment in Syria is by no means exceptional as this has been the case in many cities throughout history.

 

This is an edited excerpt from Domicide: Architecture, War and the Destruction of Home in Syria (Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2023), by Ammar Azzouz.

Ammar Azzouz

Ammar Azzouz Dr. Ammar Azzouz is a Research Fellow at the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. He is the Principal Investigator of Slow Violence and the City, a research project that examines the impact of violence on the... Read more

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Museums in Exile—MO.CO’s show for Chile, Sarajevo & Palestine

12 DECEMBER 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Museums in Exile—MO.CO’s show for Chile, Sarajevo & Palestine
Editorial

You Don’t Have to Be A Super Hero to Be a Heroine

15 OCTOBER 2022 • By TMR
You Don’t Have to Be A Super Hero to Be a Heroine
Film

Ziad Kalthoum: Trajectory of a Syrian Filmmaker

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Viola Shafik
Ziad Kalthoum: Trajectory of a Syrian Filmmaker
Art

Abundant Middle Eastern Talent at the ’22 Avignon Theatre Fest

18 JULY 2022 • By Nada Ghosn
Abundant Middle Eastern Talent at the ’22 Avignon Theatre Fest
Film Reviews

War and Trauma in Yemen: Asim Abdulaziz’s “1941”

15 JULY 2022 • By Farah Abdessamad
War and Trauma in Yemen: Asim Abdulaziz’s “1941”
Book Reviews

A Poet and Librarian Catalogs Life in Gaza

20 JUNE 2022 • By Eman Quotah
A Poet and Librarian Catalogs Life in Gaza
Art & Photography

Featured Artist: Steve Sabella, Beyond Palestine

15 JUNE 2022 • By TMR
Featured Artist: Steve Sabella, Beyond Palestine
Art & Photography

Steve Sabella: Excerpts from “The Parachute Paradox”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Steve Sabella
Steve Sabella: Excerpts from “The Parachute Paradox”
Book Reviews

Fragmented Love in Alison Glick’s “The Other End of the Sea”

16 MAY 2022 • By Nora Lester Murad
Fragmented Love in Alison Glick’s “The Other End of the Sea”
Film

Art Film Depicts the Landlocked Drama of Nagorno-Karabakh

2 MAY 2022 • By Taline Voskeritchian
Art Film Depicts the Landlocked Drama of Nagorno-Karabakh
Latest Reviews

Food in Palestine: Five Videos From Nasser Atta

15 APRIL 2022 • By Nasser Atta
Food in Palestine: Five Videos From Nasser Atta
Opinion

U.S. Sanctions Russia for its Invasion of Ukraine; Now Sanction Israel for its Occupation of Palestine

21 MARCH 2022 • By Yossi Khen, Jeff Warner
U.S. Sanctions Russia for its Invasion of Ukraine; Now Sanction Israel for its Occupation of Palestine
Columns

Nowruz and The Sins of the New Day

21 MARCH 2022 • By Maha Tourbah
Nowruz and The Sins of the New Day
Essays

Mariupol, Ukraine and the Crime of Hospital Bombing

17 MARCH 2022 • By Neve Gordon, Nicola Perugini
Mariupol, Ukraine and the Crime of Hospital Bombing
Art

Fiction: “Skin Calluses” by Khalil Younes

15 MARCH 2022 • By Khalil Younes
Fiction: “Skin Calluses” by Khalil Younes
Columns

“There’s Nothing Worse Than War”

24 FEBRUARY 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
“There’s Nothing Worse Than War”
Fiction

Fiction from “Free Fall”: I fled the city as a murderer whose crime had just been uncovered

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Abeer Esber, Nouha Homad
Fiction from “Free Fall”: I fled the city as a murderer whose crime had just been uncovered
Book Reviews

Temptations of the Imagination: how Jana Elhassan and Samar Yazbek transmogrify the world

10 JANUARY 2022 • By Rana Asfour
Temptations of the Imagination: how Jana Elhassan and Samar Yazbek transmogrify the world
Book Reviews

The Vanishing: Are Arab Christians an Endangered Minority?

15 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Hadani Ditmars
The Vanishing: Are Arab Christians an Endangered Minority?
Film Reviews

Will Love Triumph in the Midst of Gaza’s 14-Year Siege?

11 OCTOBER 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
Will Love Triumph in the Midst of Gaza’s 14-Year Siege?
Weekly

Heba Hayek’s Gaza Memories

1 AUGUST 2021 • By Shereen Malherbe
Heba Hayek’s Gaza Memories
Memoir

“Guns and Figs” from Heba Hayek’s new Gaza book

1 AUGUST 2021 • By Heba Hayek
“Guns and Figs” from Heba Hayek’s new Gaza book
Weekly

Wafa Shami’s Palestinian Mulukhiyah

25 JULY 2021 • By Wafa Shami
Wafa Shami’s Palestinian Mulukhiyah
Weekly

Fadi Kattan’s Fatteh Ghazawiya الفتة الغزاوية

25 JULY 2021 • By Fadi Kattan
Fadi Kattan’s Fatteh Ghazawiya الفتة الغزاوية
Columns

When War is Just Another Name for Murder

15 JULY 2021 • By Norman G. Finkelstein
When War is Just Another Name for Murder
Fiction

Gazan Skies, from the novel “Out of It”

14 JULY 2021 • By Selma Dabbagh
Gazan Skies, from the novel “Out of It”
Art

Malak Mattar — Gaza Artist and Survivor

14 JULY 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
Malak Mattar — Gaza Artist and Survivor
Essays

The Gaza Mythologies

14 JULY 2021 • By Ilan Pappé
The Gaza Mythologies
Columns

The Semantics of Gaza, War and Truth

14 JULY 2021 • By Mischa Geracoulis
The Semantics of Gaza, War and Truth
Latest Reviews

No Exit

14 JULY 2021 • By Allam Zedan
No Exit
Essays

Gaza, You and Me

14 JULY 2021 • By Abdallah Salha
Gaza, You and Me
Columns

Gaza’s Catch-22s

14 JULY 2021 • By Khaled Diab
Gaza’s Catch-22s
Essays

Making a Film in Gaza

14 JULY 2021 • By Elana Golden
Making a Film in Gaza
Essays

Gaza IS Palestine

14 JULY 2021 • By Jenine Abboushi
Gaza IS Palestine
Latest Reviews

A Response to “Gaza: Mowing the Lawn” 2014-15

14 JULY 2021 • By Tony Litwinko
A Response to “Gaza: Mowing the Lawn” 2014-15
Centerpiece

“Gaza: Mowing the Lawn” by Artist Jaime Scholnick

14 JULY 2021 • By Sagi Refael
“Gaza: Mowing the Lawn” by Artist Jaime Scholnick
Essays

Sailing to Gaza to Break the Siege

14 JULY 2021 • By Greta Berlin
Sailing to Gaza to Break the Siege
Book Reviews

ISIS and the Absurdity of War in the Age of Twitter

4 JULY 2021 • By Jessica Proett
ISIS and the Absurdity of War in the Age of Twitter
Weekly

A New Book on Music, Palestine-Israel & the “Three State Solution”

28 JUNE 2021 • By Mark LeVine
A New Book on Music, Palestine-Israel & the “Three State Solution”
Art

The Murals of Yemen’s Haifa Subay

14 MAY 2021 • By Farah Abdessamad
The Murals of Yemen’s Haifa Subay
Poetry

A visual poem from Hala Alyan: Gaza

14 MARCH 2021 • By TMR
A visual poem from Hala Alyan: Gaza
TMR 6 • Revolutions

Ten Years of Hope and Blood

14 FEBRUARY 2021 • By Robert Solé
Ten Years of Hope and Blood
TMR 4 • Small & Indie Presses

Shahla Ujayli’s “Summer With the Enemy”

14 DECEMBER 2020 • By Shahla Ujayli
Shahla Ujayli’s “Summer With the Enemy”
TMR 4 • Small & Indie Presses

Shahla Ujayli’s “Summer With the Enemy”

14 DECEMBER 2020 • By Shahla Ujayli
Shahla Ujayli’s “Summer With the Enemy”

1 thought on “<em>Domicide</em>—War on the City”

  1. Authoritative and incisive. Domicide, unfortunately, has wide-ranging applicability and far-reaching consequences.

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