In Jobar, Syria, the community is struggling to rebuild their damaged homes The Syrian war

Jobar, Syria – Ahmad, a Syrian man in his mid-30s, walks down a cobbled street in Jobar, East Damascus, pointing to a small house. It was destroyed sometime during the 13-year war in Syria and is now in ruins after years of neglect.

“That was my grandfather’s house,” Ahmad, who asked that only his first name be used because of his difficulties, told Al Jazeera. Near his mother’s house is a small shop where she sells clothes.

Before the start of the Syrian war in 2011, following the brutal suppression of anti-government protests, Jobar was a vibrant area. It was a historic mosque and synagogue but today it is a slum town after years of shelling, airstrikes and chemical gas attacks.

Between 2012 and 2018, when most of Jobar was captured by the rebels, it became one of the Syrian wars. They were repeatedly bombed by the government forces, which caused about 95 percent of the buildings to be destroyed. After the government recaptured areas of Damascus from the rebels in 2018, Jobar was displaced by many of its citizens.

Today, it is a major post-war crisis for the new Syrian government and its citizens, as they try to manage the reconstruction and return of former residents.

Bermuda Triangle

Opposition groups built trenches to protect themselves from attacks by the government and its allies, and bombarded planes on a daily basis.

Locals said the network of canals meant the area was given the name ‘Bermuda Triangle’ because of how people can get lost there.

In 2018, the government cut ties with opposition groups – fighters, their families and other community members could leave the area. Most were left behind in Idlib, which is controlled by rebels and the government has banned any civilians from entering the area. Shortly after terrorists took over Damascus in December 2024 and forced President Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia, some of Jobar’s residents returned to visit their homes for the first time in eight years.

One veteran, Salem Sawan, 59, a former healer, also known as Abu Yehya, rents a house in a nearby area. They want to return home but, like other people in the area, said people have been prevented from rebuilding.

Walking around a part of Jobar, Ahmad points to a main road that was recently filled with dirt and debris. “The government should have shut this down soon,” he said.

Ahmad said some people are lost in the complicated network. There have also been reports of buildings collapsing due to the sinkhole. Between the canals, the lack of infrastructure and the ongoing mining activity in the area, Jobar is a good example of the challenges Syria is facing in rebuilding.

Difficulty rebuilding

One of the biggest factors in rebuilding is getting money. Assad has left the country in ruins, both physically and economically, along with international sanctions, which The new government has succeeded in removing it.

The World Bank estimates the total cost of reconstruction in Syria to be around $216bn, with nearly 90 per cent of Syrians living below the poverty line.

“The need for reconstruction is huge and if a region has no infrastructure (the question is) how to spend money on reconstruction,” Cao Yue, author of the latest report on Syria’s reconstruction by ODI Global, a UK think tank, told Al Jazeera. “We know that the government has a limited government budget, so they will focus on foreign investment, especially international businesses, and that is why (there has been an effort) to reduce contracts with international investors, especially from neighboring countries.

On the way to Jobar, Ahmad, an ex-soldier, points out a house with a rare appearance. It used to have a few floors, but there is no floor because the metal going through it was stolen, he said.

More than a decade earlier, Mohammad Hamsho, a former friend of Bashar’s brother, Maher al-Assad, was sanctioned by the US and the EU for supporting the war and collaborating with the former regime. One of his companies has been accused of extracting iron from waste places to make steel. In January 2026, Hamsho reportedly joined the new Syrian government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Locals like Ahmad and Abu Yehya told Al Jazeera that officials told them they could not rebuild their homes, even on their own. When asked why, he was told that there was a plan for the place, but was not given any other information.

There are now reports that government and private developers are looking to invest in areas such as Jobar, and its proximity to central Damascus means that land there is very valuable.

Media reports say local officials are planning a $21bn foreign-funded project in the region that could create up to 200,000 jobs. But this work has its challenges. It says that the local people will get only 50 percent of their old houses and 30 percent of the so-called “agricultural” areas. When the plan was presented to local councils and activists, they were outraged.

This struggle between the government and the community is at the heart of the struggle for Syria’s future.

“People need housing, but they also need basic services such as education, sanitation, water, electricity and governance,” Mauricio Vazquez, Director of Policy at ODI’s Global Risks and Resilience program, and co-author of the report, told Al Jazeera. Vazquez added that the struggle is not only a “brick and mortar weapon” but also to find ways to rebuild the groups that are “good for Syria”.

As for people like Abu Yehya, he said he is ready to start thinking about how to rebuild his house. During the war, he always carried the wounded or dead bodies as the fighting took place around him. Now he has a back problem, two slipped discs and he can’t lift a kilo, let alone a body. “If the body is alive 70 kg (154 pounds) and 140 (308) dead.”

This means that they are now unable to work.

“Anyone who does not have a child outside (Syria) will die,” he said, as he sat facing the local cemetery, filled with the corpses of his former neighbors and friends. However, he wants to find a way to rebuild his house in Jobar.

Standing next to Mahmoud al-Ajouz, a 60-year-old gravedigger, who has not left the area, even after his children were killed here and when the government and its allies ordered everyone to leave.

When asked about rebuilding, he was confident that Yobur would do well again. “We will rebuild with our own hands,” he said, “we are one government”.