In Syria's Devastated Twin Towns, Tears Mix With Rubble

What has happened here? she cried, wiping away tears as she gazed at the horizon of collapsed buildings, houses stripped of doors and windows, and finally her own charred home. Once a popular summer resort famed for its fruit trees and favored by tourists from rich Gulf Arab countries, the Damascus suburb of Zabadani is now a deserted endless vista of pulverized buildings after thousands of rebels were driven out, along with the town's original inhabitants. A short drive away is Madaya, once a besieged rebel stronghold that captured international headlines for haunting photographs of children dying of malnutrition. Zabadani, some 30 miles (45 kilometers) northwest of Damascus, was retaken last month by Syrian and Iranian-backed allied forces following two years of siege, the latest in a growing list of towns and cities recaptured by President Bashar Assad's forces. The military gains have given the Syrian leader the upper hand in the 6-year-old war, creating new realities on the ground as fruitless rounds of cease-fire talks are held in Switzerland and Kazakhstan between the warring sides. The predominantly Sunni town near the border with Lebanon returned to government control on April 19, following a Qatar- and Iran-brokered deal that saw thousands of rebels along with the remaining inhabitants of both Zabadani and nearby Madaya evacuated to rebel-held northern Idlib province in return for surrender. Driving through the fertile plains leading to Zabadani and Madaya, where fragrant cherry trees and apple orchards in full bloom lined the road, it was difficult to imagine that until recently people were dying of hunger and starvation here. [...] picking through the heaps of trash littering what used to be her home, Ghosn found a few family mementos that triggered more tears: a passport photograph of her son, now studying to be an architect. The town itself looked like an earthquake zone — rows of bombed-out b

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