Civilians are beginning to return to the elite area of Syrian Aleppo – Zahra, while builders are rapidly rehabilitating houses and infrastructure.
The front line went straight through the area, so it was severely destroyed, with damage to almost all the buildings and the stele on the main street in the area. Most of the residents left this part of the city when the fighting broke out. After the demining, the builders began to remove rubble, clear streets and yards of debris and restore buildings.
“We have only been working for two days, but we have managed to do a lot. As soon as we started to work, we found a lot of unexploded mines and shells and had to call in deminers. The residents of this house are rushing us – they want to move as soon as possible. The whole building will take at least a month”, – experienced bricklayer Ahmed Abed Elkhai told Russian journalists.
The construction teams have many orders, he said, and the residents want to return home as soon as possible. Many are rebuilding houses on their own.
“Of course, your heart bleeds when you see what the militants have done to our area. But life is getting better, so I started renovating my apartment. There is still a lot of work to do, but I hope I can celebrate my housewarming in summer”, – said engineer Mahmood Khmeemi. A mine flew right into his apartment during the fighting, he said.
Water and electricity are still supplied by the clock, but this does not scare the townspeople. Business has also begun to return to the area and one of the first shops to produce windows and doors was opened.
“We are confident in the success of our cause. People come back and make repairs, our products are more in demand than ever. We have already finished finishing the office, we have enough money for both raw materials and consumables. The number of orders is increasing every day, now we put everything back into production. We were the first to do so, and it was a good decision to hurry up with the renovation”, – explained businessman Hassan Dado, who set up the workshop with his father.
The armed conflict in Syria has continued since 2011. The city of Aleppo was liberated in 2016. It was badly damaged during the war and many buildings, sites and attractions were destroyed or damaged. Aleppo was the industrial capital of Syria, but because of the conflict, most of its businesses have ceased to operate.