Vegetation grows between crumbled walls and torn asphalt, and not a single street remains intact in Syria's Maaret al-Numan, a key war battleground town being brought back to life by returnees.
Bilal al-Rihani reopened his pastry shop in the western town this week with his wife and 14-year-old son.
The 45-year-old baker couldn't stay away after years of exile, even amid the devastation surrounding him.
Working without water or electricity, the shop bustles with customers as they prepare cinnamon pastries -– a family speciality for 150 years.