After a decade of war and displacement, many Syrians are returning to their homes to find them looted and roofless, the Associated Press reported.
In towns like Maarat al-Numan and Kfar Nabl in northern Syria, residents who fled years ago are returning after the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad, but now face the harsh reality of widespread theft and destruction.
Strategically located on the road between the cities of Aleppo and Damascus, Maarat al-Numan has become a flashpoint in the Syrian civil war. In 2020, Assad's forces captured the area from rebel control. Groups affiliated with Assad then looted houses and demolished some of them to extract valuable materials and furniture, rights groups quoted by BTA said.
Steel and wires were removed from the roofs of houses to be sold. Aerial video of the area showed rows of houses with missing roofs.
Anmar Zaatur, who left in 2019, says he returned in 2025 to find his home destroyed.
"There was nowhere to put our children", he said. "This destruction is not from the bombing, it is from the military. And it is not just my home, it is the same for my neighbors and friends".
Upon returning to Maarat al-Numan, Zakaria al-Awad burst into tears of joy and sorrow. His house was destroyed, "one of the first to be hit," he says.
"There's no better place than home," he says, though. "Now we have freedom, and that's priceless."
Others were more cautious about the future.
"The problem is that it's impossible to go back to our lives without a roof," says returnee Hassan Barbesh. "Ma'arat al-Numan is a poor city. It's very difficult to start from scratch."