Normality returns for some in Damascus after fighting

Normality returns for some in Damascus after fighting

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Some people in the Syrian capital Damascus have been able to enjoy a semblance of normality since fighting in the area ended in May, but in the rubble of shattered, destitute towns nearby, life could not be more different.

Central Damascus was held by the government throughout the war and suffered much less damage than opposition-held areas - evidence of the huge gulf in fire power between the two sides.

. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica
A man walks past a banner depicting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in Douma.

Parts of the eastern Ghouta region just outside Damascus were all but flattened during a government offensive this spring to retake it from rebels.

When the area surrendered, tens of thousands of its people, both fighters and civilians, chose to leave eastern Ghouta under safe passage for opposition areas in northern Syria rather than come back under government rule. Others decided to stay.

. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica
People celebrate friend's birthday in Marionette bar in the Old City of Damascus.

The risk of being hit by bullets or shellfire near the capital has now ended, but conditions in central Damascus, with its relaxed nightlife and bustling business district, seem a world away from the hardship of eastern Ghouta.

. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica
Russian soldiers pray inside the Umayyad mosque in Damascus.

President Bashar al-Assad's success in the war owes much to Russia, which entered the war on his side in 2015, and whose soldiers are now a common sight in government-held areas.

Even during the fighting, people in Damascus would go out in the evenings to eat, drink and dance, but this summer, the bars and restaurants of the Old City were much busier.

. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica
Dana pours a drink inside a bar in the Old City of Damascus.

"During the war, when bombs were falling, it could be days without customers, but we never stopped working," said Dana, a 24-year-old bar tender, mixing a blue moon cocktail in a shaker.

Barber shops do good business and cafes spill out onto the cobbled streets of the Old City on weekend evenings.

. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica
Antoun is carried by his friends during his wedding to Ruba outside Damascus.

This was the first summer since 2011 without the sound of fighting in Damascus. At a wedding outside the city, the noise came rather from student rock band Kibreet - a drummer, two guitarists and a singer.

The groom was carried on the shoulders of his friends and family, as people clapped around him. He swung his bride in his arms, her white dress billowing out behind.

. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica
Women wait to be examined in a hospital in Douma.

Only a few miles away, in the eastern Ghouta city of Douma, rubble is all around. In one bulletpocked building, a young man on the fifth floor was shovelling debris from a balcony, preparing the flat for re-use.

Entire streets seem destroyed. At one of the area's biggest hospitals, where huge shell holes are blown into the walls, medics are still operating out of the basement.

A woman held up a small boy on a bed, grimacing as he waited for the doctor to give an injection. In the ravaged streets, a small boy pushed a cart selling cooked sweetcorn cobs between ruined buildings.

. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica
A child pushes a cart selling cooked sweetcorn in Douma.

The fighting in Douma only ended a few months ago, but any significant reconstruction might be very distant.

Syria cannot afford a major rebuilding programme. Its closest allies, Russia and Iran, seem unlikely to foot the bill. Western nations will pay no cash without a political transition.

In al-Khalidiya district of Homs, retaken by the government in 2013, the slow nature of recovery is clear. Much of it is a ghost town, uninhabited and closed by the army.

. Homs, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica
Children play soccer in al-Khalidiya area, in the government-controlled part of Homs.

In one area, boys played soccer near buildings so pancaked by bombs that the floors and ceilings hung down closely on top of each other. Their goal was made of two rusting oil drums with posts sticking up and a wire tied between them as the crossbar.

. Homs, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica
A woman walks past destroyed buildings in the government-controlled part of Homs.

"The covered souk used to be chockablock but now very few people come to this area," said Abu Fares, a shop owner in the Old City of Homs.

Even among the young people enjoying the nightlife in Damascus the challenge of the long, slow economic recovery ahead means many people are thinking of leaving.

. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica
Rasha poses for a photograph in the Old City of Damascus.

"I like my job. I like bars and night life here. But in the end I would like to move out of Syria. I don't see a future here," said Rasha, a 30-year bar owner.

"When there was war here and we had bombs falling every day I never wanted to leave. But now, yes," she said.

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Slideshow

People walk in front of the Umayyad mosque in Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

People walk in front of the Umayyad mosque in Damascus.

A destroyed carriage is seen from a train traveling through the outskirts of Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

A destroyed carriage is seen from a train traveling through the outskirts of Damascus.

A soldier guards a train at a station.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

A soldier guards a train at a station.

A woman looks out of a train window traveling through the outskirts of Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

A woman looks out of a train window traveling through the outskirts of Damascus.

A damaged cemetery is seen from a train traveling through the outskirts of Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

A damaged cemetery is seen from a train traveling through the outskirts of Damascus.

General view shows Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

General view shows Damascus.

Pictures of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad are seen inside a hotel.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

Pictures of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad are seen inside a hotel.

Two women talk to each other in a bar in the Old City of Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

Two women talk to each other in a bar in the Old City of Damascus.

A taxi driver waits for customers in the Old City of Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

A taxi driver waits for customers in the Old City of Damascus.

A man talks to a costumer as he stands inside his barber shop in the Old City of Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

A man talks to a costumer as he stands inside his barber shop in the Old City of Damascus.

A man takes a rest while waiting for customers at luna park in Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

A man takes a rest while waiting for customers at luna park in Damascus.

Children play at luna park at a recently opened international fair in Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

Children play at luna park at a recently opened international fair in Damascus.

Christian couple Ruba and Antoun, hug during their wedding outside Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

Christian couple Ruba and Antoun, hug during their wedding outside Damascus.

People travel on a bus after arriving at a recently opened international fair in Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

People travel on a bus after arriving at a recently opened international fair in Damascus.

Engine driver smokes shisha after arriving at a recently opened international fair in Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

Engine driver smokes shisha after arriving at a recently opened international fair in Damascus.

People sing on a train as they travel through the outskirts of Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

People sing on a train as they travel through the outskirts of Damascus.

Destroyed buildings are seen from of a train in Damascus.
. Damascus, Syria. Reuters/Marko Djurica

Destroyed buildings are seen from of a train in Damascus.