Syrian architect uses drone footage to help rebuild hometown
Tal Mardikh – Syrian architect Abdel Aziz al-Mohammed could barely recognise his war-ravaged village when he returned after years away. Now, his meticulous documentation of the damage using a drone helps to rebuild it.
'When I first came back, I was shocked by the extent of the destruction,' said Mohammed, 34.
Walking through his devastated village of Tal Mardikh, in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, he said he could not recognise 'anything, I couldn't even find my parents' home'.
Nearly half of Tal Mardikh's 1,500 homes have been destroyed and the rest damaged, mainly due to bombardment by the former Syrian army.
Mohammed, who in 2019 fled the bombardment to near the Turkish border, first returned days after an Islamist-led offensive toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.
The architect, now based in Idlib city, had documented details of Tal Mardikh's houses and streets before fleeing, and afterwards used his drone to document the destruction.
When he returned, he spent two weeks carefully surveying the area, going from home to home and creating an interactive map showing the detailed conditions of each house.
'We entered homes in fear, not knowing what was inside, as the regime controlled the area for five years,' he said.
Under the blazing sun, Mohammed watched as workers restored a house in Tal Mardikh, which adjoins the archaeological site of Ebla, the seat of one of ancient Syria's earliest kingdoms.
His documentation of the village helped gain support from Shafak, a Turkey-based non-governmental organisation which agreed to fund the reconstruction and rehabilitation of 434 out of 800 damaged homes in Tal Mardikh.
The work is expected to be completed in August, and includes the restoration of two wells and sanitation networks, at a cost of more than one million dollars.
– 'Full of hope' –
Syrians have begun returning home after Assad's ouster and following nearly 14 years of civil war that killed over half a million people and displaced millions of others internally and abroad.
According to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, more than 600,000 Syrians had returned home from abroad, while around 1.5 million internally displaced people have gone back to their regions of origin.
The agency estimates that up to 1.5 million Syrians from abroad and two million internally displaced people could return by the end of this year.
Around 13.5 million currently remain displaced internally or abroad, according to UNHCR figures for May.
In Tal Mardikh, Alaa Gharib, 45, is among only a few dozen residents who have come back.
'I lived in tents for seven years, and when liberation came, I returned to my village,' said Gharib, whose home is among those set for restoration.
He is using a blanket as a makeshift door for his house which had 'no doors, no windows, nothing'.
After Western sanctions were lifted, Syria's new authorities are hoping for international support for post-war reconstruction, which the UN estimates could cost more than $400 billion.
Efforts have so far been limited to individuals or charities, with the government yet to launch a reconstruction campaign.
Architect Mohammed said his dream was 'for the village to be rebuilt, for people and life to return'.
He expressed hope to 'see the Syria we dream of… the Syria full of hope, built by its youth'.
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New Syrian Government Maintained Neutrality While Syrian Airspace Remained Exposed Throughout the Israel-Iran war, the Syrian government maintained complete silence about it, and circles close to the government conveyed that it did not wish to be involved in the conflict in any way. Sources familiar with the government said that, 'given the fragile situation in Syria and the desire to rebuild the country, it is not possible to issue uncalculated statements about two rivals who have both contributed to Syria's destruction.' 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Wael Alwan, a Syrian researcher with the Turkey-based institute Jusoor for Studies, noted that Iran supported the Assad regime and is hostile to the new Syria, and that Israel likewise views the Syrian government as an adversary and continues its attacks on Syria and its incursions into its territory.[5] Hence, he said, the Syrian government had no reason to side with either of these countries. Similarly, Syrian pollical analyst Bassem Suleiman told the Syrian website Enab Baladi: "The best position for Syria to take is a neutral one. Why should Syria stand with Iran against Israel, or vice versa?"[6] Nevertheless, Syria could not completely distance itself from the war, given that, due to its geographical location, both the Iranian missiles and drones and the Israeli planes passed through its airspace. Shrapnel from Iranian weapons intercepted by Israel fell in Syria, especially in its southern region, killing one woman, injuring several people and causing extensive damage. 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As part of this, security reinforcements were sent to southern Syria to prevent any attempt to carry out an attack on Israel from the region, and it was also reported that the Syrian security forces had seized and confiscated a weapons depot in the area.[18] In addition, Syrian forces have increased their presence around the border with Iraq in order to act against people and cells affiliated with Iran and against Iran-backed Iraqi forces – primarily led the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), a military body parallel to the Iraqi army comprising mainly pro-Iran militias – and to prevent these forces from infiltrating into Syrian territory. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on June 14 that tensions between the two sides had increased after the PMU fired a rocket at a Syrian military post, wounding a Syrian soldier. 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According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the arrests were due to fears that they would carry out attacks in response to the Israel-Iran war.[21] In this context, the commander of the Syrian security forces in the Deir Al-Zor governorate, Dirar Al-Shamlan, announced that members of the Assad regime and those associated with it were forbidden to possess weapons of any kind.[22] Syrian forces have also stepped up alertness on the Lebanon border in order to thwart weapons smuggling. It was reported on June 19 that in the Talkalakh area, in western Homs governorate near the border, Syrian security forces seized a shipment of Grad rockets intended for smuggling into Lebanon.[23] Even before the Israel-Iran war, on June 5, Syrian forces intercepted the smuggling of anti-tank missiles into Lebanon.[24] Amid this, Syrian sources reported that the smuggled weapons were often Iranian and that the smuggling network was helmed by former operatives of the Assad regime who were closely coordinating with the IRGC, and that this was taking place under the direct oversight of Iranian officers. According to the Lebanese daily Nidaa Al-Watan, such smuggling increases the risk of severe escalation in the region.[25] * O. Peri is a research fellow at MEMRI.
