The restoration of war-torn Aleppo is underway, with multitudes of residents waiting to restart their lives.
Located in the northern part of the country, Aleppo is Syrian's largest city, and serves as an important business center.
The city used to be the most populous Syrian governorate with a population of 1.9 million. However, many people fled to other areas during the war, leaving Aleppo a ghost city.
At the end of 2016, the Syrian government announced it had recovered Aleppo from extremist groups, and reconstruction work in the city has been ongoing since then.
Aleppo had Syria's largest and oldest bazaar, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1986. But in the Syrian conflict, the old city came under heavy artillery fire, destroying 70 percent of its buildings and shops.
Now a volunteer team of local residents and university students organized by the government is cleaning and repairing the old city.
"The market was very busy before the war. But the shops were burned and destroyed during the war. Now we are trying to rebuild and hoping to restore it," said Ahmed Sally, a resident.
The city was once a bustling industrial and commercial center. During the war, the famous Kallaseh industrial zone in Aleppo was once controlled by the anti-government armed force and completely destroyed. Now some factories in the zone have resumed production.
"The factory has a total of 11 plants. We mainly produce all kinds of steel and metal products. We have modern production lines and we assemble ourselves," said Ahmed Hassan, general manager of the factory.
"The factory will provide a guarantee for the reconstruction. Our products can be used in the construction of the buildings, factories and other facilities," said Edno, an engineer of the factory.
More and more people in the city are returning to rebuild their homeland. The Syrian government is committed to restoring local infrastructure and gradually promoting education and health care. More than 1,400 schools and 16,000 factories have resumed operations across Aleppo Province, including in Aleppo City.
REUTERS
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