Syrian city of Homs shows signs of life amid moonscape of devastation

Special report: Ian Black finds whispers of normality, stability and a few returning residents in ex-rebel bastion laid siege by Assad forces for two years

Thursday 31 July 2014 16

Adnan Azzam has his work cut out. Every room in his second-floor apartment in the old city of Homs bears the scars of war: there’s a shell hole in the corner of the children’s bedroom and drawers are missing from the glass-fronted cabinets in the ornate salon. They were chopped up for firewood by the rebels who occupied the flat, did their cooking on the stairwell and left scorch marks on the whitewashed wall.
Syrian City of Homs Shows Signs of Life Amid Moonscape of Devastation by Thavam