Devastation in Syria: Regime bombings expose brutality

After the fall of the Ba'ath regime in Syria on December 8, the devastation caused by Bashar al-Assad and regime forces in the Cobar neighborhood of Eastern Ghouta, where even sacred sites were not spared, has come to light. The Eastern Ghouta region, which suffered the most brutal attacks and oppression in the 13-year war that Assad's regime waged against its own people to maintain power, has borne the brunt of this violence. The Cobar neighborhood in Eastern Ghouta has been virtually transformed into a ghost town after years of siege and bombardment. In addition to sacred sites like mosques and cemeteries, the damage to educational buildings such as daycare centers, where children once prepared for their education, highlights the extent of the destruction and the brutality of the war. Once a bustling part of the city, the Cobar neighborhood has seen such extensive destruction that nearly the entire population of up to 300,000 people has fled. According to local residents, only a few thousand people have returned to the neighborhood. After the regime's downfall, some Syrians who returned to their neighborhoods are cleaning up the streets reduced to rubble while burying their dead in cemeteries that bear the marks of bombings. During the war, Syrians could not reach the cemeteries where they buried their loved ones, but now, they visit their relatives in the graveyards that have been reduced to ruins by the regime's bombings. Barrel bombs, mortars, and artillery shells used by the Assad regime and its regional allies have toppled the minarets of mosques, rendering places of worship unusable.