Syrian Architect Uses Drone Footage To Help Rebuild Hometown
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.
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". Syrian architect Abdel Aziz al-Mohammed (L) shows on a tablet an interactive map that he created, revealing the detailed conditions of each house in his village Tal Mardikh AFP Syrian architect Abdel Aziz al-Mohammed (C) speaks to residents of his village Tal Mardikh AFP An aerial photograph shows of the village of Tal Mardikh, in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, on June 2, 2025 AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Int'l Business Times
2 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Graft Case Piles Pressure On Turkey's Main Opposition
A court hearing that could upend the leadership of Turkey's main opposition CHP is the latest bid to hobble the party behind a wave of spring protests that shook the government, analysts say. The hearing, which takes place on Monday at an Ankara court, could render null and void the result of a leadership primary within the Republican People's Party (CHP) in November 2023 on grounds of alleged fraud -- thereby overturning the election of leader Ozgur Ozel. In February, the Ankara public prosecutor opened an investigation into allegations of vote buying at the congress which resulted in Ozel defeating longtime incumbent Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The CHP has denied the allegations. The outcome could see several CHP figures -- including jailed Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu -- facing up to three years in prison and a political ban for graft, Turkish media reported. And if the election result is cancelled, the party leadership would almost certainly revert to 76-year-old Kilicdaroglu. He was ousted five months after losing a bitterly fought presidential campaign against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that was widely seen as the most important vote in generations, leaving the party in crisis. "This is a bid to reshape the CHP and create an opposition that is controlled by a government which is becoming more and more authoritarian," Berk Esen, a political science expert at Istanbul's Sabanci University, told AFP. "This will provoke a split within the party, putting a weak, defeated leader in charge whom the voters don't want any more," he said. Kilicdaroglu has already said he would be willing to take on the party leadership again if the court overturned the primary result, sparking uproar within the CHP. "It would be out of the question to not recognise such a verdict. Would it be better if a trustee was appointed to lead the party?" he said, also voicing his disapproval of the mass protests called by the CHP following Imamoglu's arrest and jailing in March. Widely seen as the only politician capable of defeating Erdogan at the ballot box, Imamoglu was arrested in connection with a graft and terror probe which the CHP has denounced as groundless. He was jailed on the day that he was named CHP's candidate for the 2028 presidential race, his removal sparking Turkey's worst street unrest since 2013. "I feel a deep sense of betrayal. I cannot stomach such remarks when so many people are in prison," Imamoglu said in response to Kilicdaroglu's remarks. "Kilicdaroglu is a politician who will be remembered very badly. Some accuse him of working for (Erdogan's ruling) AKP but I think it's more a case of his ambition knowing no bounds," said Esen. "He is collaborating with an authoritarian government in order to get his own power back." Following Imamoglu's arrest, Ozel went from being a relatively low-profile leader to the face of the protests, his impassioned speeches sharpening both his own image and that of the CHP, which has since held rallies across the country and is now leading the polls. According to a survey by Ank-Ar Research published last week, if an election were to be held now, the CHP would win 34.6 percent, more than five percentage points higher than the 29.4 percent for the AKP. And the government is not happy. "From the government's perspective, it is crucial they get the CHP off the streets because Ozel is seen as dangerous," said Eren Aksoyoglu, an expert in political communication. "By contrast, Kilicdaroglu is making conciliatory noises to those in power, saying he no longer wants any demonstrations and that he is ready to negotiate a change to the constitution," he said. If he were to take over the party leadership, it would "put the CHP in a position where it was negotiating with the government rather than fighting it," agreed Esen. Observers say a more sympathetic opposition would give Erdogan much greater room for manoeuvre in the government's negotiations with the PKK after the Kurdish militants said they were ending their decades-long armed struggle. It could also help the government push through a constitutional amendment to allow Erdogan to extend his term in office beyond 2028 -- a step that would require opposition support to be voted through. "I don't think Kilicdaroglu would be able to hold on to the CHP leadership in the long term, but if the process (of leadership change) is drawn out over the course of a year, for example, that would let the government to change the constitution," said Esen. And that would spell "total disaster for the opposition", he said. In any event, Monday's hearing would likely spark "a new wave of protest, which will have economic and political consequences for the government", he added.
Int'l Business Times
3 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Russia's 'Mr Nobody' Gambles All With Film On Kremlin Propaganda
When Moscow invaded Ukraine, Pavel Talankin, a staff member at a secondary school in Russia's Ural Mountains, was ordered to film patriotic lessons, songs and morning drills. Talankin, the school's event organiser and also a keen videographer, found the propaganda work so depressing that he wanted to quit his job in the industrial town of Karabash. Then he received what he says was the strangest message of his life. A Europe-based filmmaker got in touch, offering to collaborate on a project to document the abrupt militarisation of Talankin's school in the wake of Russia's February 2022 invasion of its neighbour. Talankin had earlier seen a post from a Russian company looking for people whose jobs had been affected by the war. Talankin said he was ready to talk. After receiving the foreigner's offer Talankin did not sleep all night. The project changed his life forever. After teaming up with David Borenstein and shooting many hours of footage, Talankin last summer fled Russia with seven hard discs, leaving behind his mother, brothers and sisters and the town he loved. Using the smuggled-out footage Borenstein, a Denmark-based US filmmaker, directed what became "Mr Nobody Against Putin", an award-winning 90-minute documentary which exposes the intensity of the propaganda at Talankin's school and throughout Karabash. It premiered at the 2025 Sundance film festival in January. The project cost Talankin dearly. Local officials banned his former colleagues from contacting him, he became a hate figure for supporters of the war and his school librarian mother was upset. "I have become a persona non grata," Talankin, 34, told AFP from Prague, where he is now based. Russia outlawed all criticism of the Russian military and the Kremlin and Talankin knew he had taken huge risks. But he has no regrets. "I would do it all over again." He has been buoyed by the support of people featured in the film including those who lost their loved ones in the war. One former colleague said she became ashamed that she, too, was "part of the system." The documentary reaped awards at festivals and the film crew hopes it will be available to wider audiences in Europe later this year. Borenstein said the film's success had been a "relief" because the multi-national crew overcame numerous obstacles including communication and security. But above all he was "really scared" that if the film flopped Talankin's sacrifice would come to nothing. "I knew the whole time that Pasha would have to leave Russia to make this project happen," Borenstein told AFP, referring to his co-director by his diminutive. "That is a huge sacrifice for him, because his mum is there, his whole life is there, he does not speak English, not at that time." Talankin has not been able to join the crew to present the film at the Sundance festival in Utah and elsewhere due to paperwork issues, but the team hopes this will soon change. For now he is learning English and adjusting to his new life in Prague. Talankin said he was heartened by the reactions at the screenings. One viewer in the Czech Republic said he hated Russians but the film made him reconsider. "We knew nothing about what was happening to you," Talankin quoted the Czech as saying. "It is a powerful and poetic piece of cinema," said producer Alexandra Fechner, who is promoting the film in France. "This film shows the hidden side of propaganda in Russia, which targets the youngest members of society, children who are being taught a rewritten version of history and given guns!" she said. With the war in its fourth year, Moscow has put society on a war footing and leveraged the educational system to raise a fiercely pro-Kremlin generation. The film features Wagner mercenaries telling children about hand grenades and teachers calling Ukrainians "neo-Nazi", and includes an audio recording of a wailing mother at her soldier son's funeral. But critics also point to the documentary's empathy and light touch. In one episode, a history teacher tells pupils that the spiralling prices could soon make gas unaffordable for Europeans. "The French will soon be like musketeers, riding horses, and the rest of Europe too," he said. Borenstein said that by viewing the footage sent by Talankin nearly every day, he understood the effect of the dehumanising war-time propaganda. While at the beginning he found some of the clips shocking, months later his mind had become so used to the onslaught of the propaganda that he did not see the footage depicting the Wagner mercenaries as something abnormal. "I was able to replicate among myself some of the feelings that maybe the students and people in the school felt," he said. "Looking at this propaganda every single day was a lesson in how desensitised you can become to it." A lot of the footage had not made it into the film, including the school's preparations for the possibility of a nuclear attack. Karabash is located close to one of Russia's most sensitive sites, the Mayak nuclear reprocessing plant. Talankin said Borenstein did not want the viewers to "drown in the enormous amount of negative material." "I have plans for this footage," Talankin said. "Sooner or later I will start slowly releasing it." Pavel Talankin found the propaganda work so depressing that he wanted to quit his job AFP Moscow has put society on a war footing and leveraged the educational system to raise a fiercely pro-Kremlin generation AFP Political scientists say the Kremlin is digging in for a years-long conflict with the West AFP "Mr. Nobody Against Putin" premiered at the 2025 Sundance film festival in January AFP After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, authorities introduced classes to foster patriotism AFP
DW
2 days ago
- DW
DR Congo, Rwanda sign US-brokered peace deal – DW – 06/27/2025
The two countries sealed a deal which could bring peace to the war-battered region of eastern DR Congo. US Secretary of State Rubio called the agreement "an important moment." The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have signed a peace agreement brokered by the United States, aimed at ending decades of conflict and promote development in eastern Congo. The deal has provisions on territorial integrity, prohibition of hostilities and the disengagement, disarmament and conditional integration of non-state armed groups. It also paves the way for the US government and American companies to gain access to critical minerals in the region. US President Donald Trump said he had brokered a deal for "one of the worst wars anyone has ever seen," while Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the agreement as "an important moment after 30 years of war." Congo's Foreign Minister, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, and Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe signed the agreement, both expressing optimism while acknowledging that significant work remains to end the violence. "Some wounds will heal, but they will never fully disappear," said Wagner. Her Rwandan counterpart emphasized that shared growth and cooperation would "unlock tangible dividends" for both countries. More than 100 armed groups are believed to be active in eastern Congo, with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group being the most prominent. The group made major advances early this year and seized eastern Congo's two largest cities and lucrative mining areas However, M23 rebels have indicated that the agreement will not be binding on them. The conflict has displaced more than seven million people. The United Nations has described it as "one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
