Idlib – Samah Alloush
As’ad (45 years old) decided to leave his shop in the city of Idlib and return to his hometown, Saraqib, to partially repair his damaged shop so he could reopen it and make it easier for the residents of his city to buy the necessary plumbing and electrical supplies, in an attempt to revive the city that was mostly destroyed by the previous Syrian regime and its allies.
As’ad told Enab Baladi that the number of returnees has started to rise and life is beginning to return to the city, despite the destruction inflicted on the buildings. He added that several entities have taken on the task of repairing roads, clearing rubble, and rehabilitating schools.
He noted that his sales have doubled compared to what they were in Idlib, due to the need for household sewage network supplies, materials for unclogging and opening drains, water taps, and wires for internal electrical installations and circuit breakers, which were either stolen or damaged due to bombardment.
Whether through individual efforts, governmental entities, or volunteer groups, many are striving to restore services to the cities and towns of Idlib countryside that were either under the control of the previous Syrian regime before Bashar al-Assad’s flight on December 8, 2024, or along the contact lines. However, these efforts remain insufficient against the scale of the needs.
Positive indicators
Mustafa relocated his home electrical wiring workshop from Killi, northern Idlib, to Saraqib after demand increased for his services, as he is well-known in the area. Some residents have started to repair their homes according to their financial capabilities.
Fadia, from the city of Khan Sheikhoun in southern Idlib, said that the residents’ previously pessimistic outlook due to the destruction has shifted to a somewhat positive perspective over the past two months, thanks to communal and individual efforts to restore services to the city.
However, the issue of education and the poor state of schools remains a concern for residents, due to the damage they sustained and their almost complete incapacitation. This was expressed by Khawla from the town of Jubas in southern Idlib, who hopes that promises for the reconstruction of schools and service facilities will be fulfilled soon.
Khawla told Enab Baladi that the ongoing efforts on the ground are a positive indicator, but there are several intertwined issues that need attention, such as providing job opportunities and supporting farmers by activating advisory units in the countryside.
According to displaced people interviewed by Enab Baladi, the current services provided are “incapable” of reviving life in the cities and towns of Idlib countryside. For example, the village of Talhiyeh in eastern Idlib lacks many services, including water, electricity, sewage, paved roads, and qualified schools. It only has two schools that were subjected to systematic destruction and looting by the regime and its allies.
Since the fall of the Syrian regime, approximately 100 to 150 people have returned to Talhiyeh, out of a population of 7,500 who still remain in camps in northern Syria.
Rehabilitation of sewage networks
Ibrahim al-Ismail, an assistant engineer in the Idlib Directorate of Services, told Enab Baladi that the existing sewage networks in the cities and towns of southern and eastern Idlib have sustained significant damage due to bombardments by the previous regime, in addition to the theft of all sewage covers. Consequently, they need maintenance and unclogging to be rehabilitated.
Al-Ismail added that there is a plan to implement sewage networks within newly liberated villages and towns that have urban development plans, while some existing networks require the implementation of new lines in previously unserved neighborhoods.
He pointed out that there is a future plan to expand operations and rehabilitate new areas, such as Saraqib, Maarrat al-Numan, Khan Sheikhoun, Kafrnabl, Sinjar, and Abu al-Zuhur.
Meanwhile, the project management unit in the Directorate of Services is assessing the need for roads and sewage in newly liberated areas in order to submit this information to the Directorate of Planning and International Cooperation, to share with international organizations, and to seek to implement these projects that would help encourage displaced people to return to their towns, according to al-Ismail.
Preparing electrical networks
For his part, Ibrahim Hamijo, the director of the Electricity Company in Idlib, told Enab Baladi that the company has dispatched its teams of workshops and engineering crews to southern Idlib countryside to work on maintaining and preparing electrical networks in order to restore service.
He added that assessment teams have been directed to evaluate the damages caused by the bombardment carried out by the previous regime and to prepare the necessary studies to establish high-voltage lines and low-voltage networks and transformation centers, as a complete electrical system needs to be built due to the extensive destruction of infrastructure.
Initially, the work focused on providing electricity to service facilities such as water stations, bakeries, and communication centers, in addition to maintaining and repairing the high-voltage line supplying the area from the Sharia transformer station in northern Hama to the city of Khan Sheikhoun in southern Idlib, and then to Maarrat al-Numan.
The company has also directed low-voltage teams to work within the city of Khan Sheikhoun to repair network faults, with 80% of the damages repaired within the city, according to Hamijo.
Work is currently underway to supply electricity to the towns of Tah and al-Tamanah in southern Idlib, according to the director of the Electricity Company in Idlib.
Regarding the maintenance plan that the company follows, Hamijo stated that after supplying electricity at “20kV” to the city of Maarrat al-Numan, the company will prepare the general centers within it and then move on to install the low-voltage network within the city.
The teams are also working on rehabilitating the Basida transformer station in southern Idlib, preparing “230kV” and “66kV” lines to feed the station, and then supply it with electricity from the city of Aleppo, in addition to establishing a mobile transformer station in the city of Saraqib.
Regarding the electricity supply source, Hamijo indicated that southern Idlib will be supplied by the Sharia station in northern Hama.
Among the steps taken to improve some services, the Idlib Health Directorate has invited the residents of Maarrat al-Numan to participate in a cleanup campaign for the hospital, aimed at removing the rubble from the collapsed sections and previous medical waste, as well as cleaning the hospital and its surroundings of debris, dirt, and fire residues, in addition to cleaning and beautifying the garden around the hospital.
Humanitarian situation is “critical”
On February 13 of this month, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that more than 825,000 displaced Syrians have returned to their areas since December 2024, but the movement out of the camps remains limited, with about 80,000 people leaving the camps in northwest Syria, while 300 people left the al-Arisha camp in eastern Syria.
Around two million people remain displaced in northwestern Syria, most of whom live in crowded sites and flimsy tents.
The destruction of buildings and the deterioration of services hinder the return of displaced and refugee Syrians to their areas, as the head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Amy Pope, has stated that the wide-scale return of Syrian refugees could exacerbate the conflict in Syria and represents a heavy burden on the country, asserting that they do not encourage return, as “communities are not ready to accommodate refugees.”
Pope urged caution in plans for the return of refugees, noting that some communities are forced to displace again due to unclear living conditions under the new authorities, while the UN special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, confirmed that the humanitarian situation remains critical.