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ALEPPO, Syria, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Normally, the word home simply means comfort, stability, safety and most importantly the storage of someone's memories.
But it's not the case anymore for the people of the old city of Aleppo, whose homes and shops still exist in their memories only.
After the rebels infiltrated the eastern part of Aleppo, including its ancient part, in 2012, battles started between them and the Syrian army, with both parties targeting one another, heavily.
Some people stayed, while others had left with the hope of returning one day.
The war dragged there for over four years, and the army backed by Russia and Shiite militias succeeded to wrest control over the city over a week ago, as part of a major offensive that has so far seen the military recapture of 99 percent of the rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo, including the old city.
After leaving it for four years, civilians, who have initially fled the area, started returning to their homes and shops in the ancient part of Aleppo to check on their properties.
Unfortunately, the majority of those returning could barely recognize the location of their homes, due to the tremendous amount of destruction that has befallen the city.
Muhammad Ghazaleh, a retired 60-year-old man, fled his home in the old city along with his family years ago, seeking a place to live with one of his relatives in the government-controlled part west of the city, which was relatively calmer than the eastern one.
"We have fled our neighborhood in old Aleppo since three and a half years because we couldn't live with the rebels. What can I say, the house is damaged and may God sabotage their homes," Ghazaleh told Xinhua.
Walking amid the devastated streets and the collapsed building, Ghazaleh, cried while remembering what his home used to be five years ago.
"My home was my life, I had lived in it for 40 years of my life, It's my heritage and now it's gone. I feel like stuck in a nightmare here."
Still, Ghazaleh hoped the government could help him and the people there to fix their homes, even though entire buildings need to be rebuild from scratch.
While Ghazaleh only lost his home, Abu Hasan, a 40-year-old cobbler, lost both his house and shop in old Aleppo and moved to the city of Latakia, where he stayed there for four years. .
The man said he fled the old city when the rebels infiltrated the area.
He said his situation was very good, before he woke up one day and found that the walls in his neighborhood were filled with graffiti of the rebels.
"At the time we decided to flee and days passed and here we are five years later. We were told that our area had become safe, we returned today and we found it destroyed."
Youssef Bailuni, another resident of old Aleppo, was lucky to have found that his house wasn't destroyed. Still, he felt sorry for his neighbors.
"After four years I am finally here, I reached my home and thankfully I found the building still standing, unlike the surrounding ones, which are destroyed I pray God may help them."
Bailani was optimistic about the future.
"God willing I will return home to fix the things that need to be repaired. We, the people of Aleppo, are hard workers we love to work. We will be waiting no aid no help we will build our homes by our own hands and return to live here again. This is our home, this is our land and this is our honor."
