Defying Death and Ruins: Syrians Return to Heavily Shelled Neighborhoods Despite Unexploded Bombs

Nazir Abu Khadouj returned to Jobar near Damascus with his daughters three months ago, following the death of his wife. All that remains of his former home are parts of the walls, with floor tiles and fittings having been stripped and looted during the civil war. The Syrian father of three planted roses around his old patio and established a vegetable patch on the street. “I was living in Ghouta. We moved home 11 times. I came back here. Thankfully it is working out,” he told The National. With no neighbors, shops, clinics, or schools nearby for his daughters, he acknowledged the hardships, stating, “People tell me it’s like living in the desert. But I had to come back to my hometown. A man living away from his hometown, it's not a life.”

As fighting has ended following the toppling of the Assad regime, and amid soaring rents in Damascus, residents of Jobar and other areas near the capital are slowly returning to the ruins of their former homes, despite safety hazards. Jobar was heavily shelled for years by the troops of the former regime and allied Russian forces during the civil war, leaving buildings stripped of furniture with crumbling walls, shattered windows, and no electricity or water supply. Mr Abu Khadouj recalled the area's vibrancy before the war, noting that Tiba Street used to see 300 people walk past every half-hour, compared to nobody today.

Demining and explosive clearance experts warn that the neighborhood is far from safe. “There are unexploded bombs everywhere, buildings could collapse at any time, and there are tunnels beneath buildings,” said Hussein Qazhali, who works on mine and bomb clearance with the British charity Halo Trust. Despite these risks, Mr Abu Khadouj remains dismissive, letting his girls play outside amid the rubble. “There were a few mines and unexploded devices around us when we came, but the boys from the civil defence removed them,” he said.

During The National's visit, Abdul Hamid Douara, a member of the local council, discovered two handmade unexploded devices beneath a staircase where two men were attempting to clear their old home with a digger. He brought them back to the council’s office, which operates from a makeshift building alongside other charities. Mr Qazhali expressed disappointment that residents continue to rummage through destroyed buildings independently, reminding Mr Douara not to touch the devices and to call the charity immediately upon discovery.

According to Halo Trust figures, at least 800 people—nearly a third of them children—have been killed by mines and unexploded devices since the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria in December 2024, primarily due to residents returning to heavily contaminated areas. Out of the 2,300 reported injuries, 40 percent were children. While some roads in Jobar were cleared of unexploded devices this year to enable recovery work, Mr Douara fears that rising rents are driving people back too soon. “The biggest challenge that is scarier than unexploded devices is housing rentals and the urge that people have to come back to their homes,” he said.

Those who return often do so because they have no alternative. Two brothers, wishing to remain anonymous, were clearing a house with only one ground-floor room still standing so their extended family could move in, supplementing their efforts with a large vegetable patch outside. Meanwhile, residents like Mr Abu Khadouj believe the worst has passed, noting that wartime looting by the cash-strapped Assad regime of metal foundations for resale has led people to assume the area is safe. Insisting that residents must return to revive the neighborhood, Mr Abu Khadouj stated, “A person has to come back and work with his own hands. If he doesn’t work nothing will happen.”