Syrians return to their homes from which they fled, only to find them destroyed Syrian war news

Damascus, Syria – Nizar Al-Madani (34 years old) stood with tears in his eyes as he looked around Qaboun.

After seven years of displacement, he returned to his neighborhood in the Syrian capital, Damascus, to find it destroyed on Tuesday.

He said: “We heard that the regime demolished the neighborhood, but seeing it with my own eyes was very shocking.”

When Al-Madani and his family were displaced from Qaboun in 2017, many of the neighborhood’s buildings were damaged.

“But today, there is no trace of these buildings… The regime has obliterated the landmarks of the neighborhood.”

He was not the only one who went out to Qaboun to see what remained after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Many Qaboun residents who also fled for their lives are wandering around, trying to figure out where their homes could be.

Revenge and destruction

The Assad regime deliberately destroys the areas that revolted against it after regaining control, using various laws to legitimize this.

The most important of these was Law No. 10 of 2018, which allowed the creation of new urban areas in war-affected areas and gave Syrian refugees only 30 days to prove ownership of their property. Failure to do so will result in confiscation of the property.

Many people were too afraid to return to Syria or their neighbourhoods, for fear of being arrested and accused of opposing Assad.

Nadida Hanawi (50 years old) told Al Jazeera that her family was unable to prove ownership of their home, after they fled to the north, where there is no bureaucracy controlled by the regime, and because they did not carry their ownership documents with them.

“The collapsed Assad regime not only displaced us; “She sought to steal the homes we built with our savings,” Al-Hanawi said.

“Determining the location of my home and my husband’s shop was not an easy task,” she added. “Even the cemetery containing the graves of our loved ones has been destroyed.

“The most important thing today is that the criminal Bashar al-Assad fled, his regime fell, and our land returned to us. “Together we will rebuild it,” Al-Hanawi said.

Mahmoud Jahbar (53 years old) expressed the same feelings.

“The Assad regime has destroyed our homes and our memories, but we hope we can rebuild so our children have a place to call home.”