Enab Baladi – Besan Khalaf

In the eastern part of the capital Damascus, Jobar neighborhood resembles a ghost town, with heaps of collapsed buildings, scattered children’s toys, and damaged house balconies, all due to the bombardment by the ousted Assad regime.

Despite the end of military operations in Jobar and the withdrawal of opposition factions in 2018, some of the buildings that survived the shelling are still collapsing consecutively due to the tunnels that opposition factions dug to avoid aerial bombardment and secure the needs of the residents.

Kareem al-Ma’touq was displaced from Jobar following the outbreak of military operations and returned to check his house in 2020, with prior security approval from the former regime, finding it still standing. However, when he visited again after the regime’s fall, he was surprised to find his home collapsed.

Al-Ma’touq attributed the sudden collapse of his house to the explosion of land mines; however, when the house’s infrastructure was examined by an engineer, it was discovered that the cause was the existence of a tunnel beneath the house.

As for Ahmad al-Hussein, he watches his house gradually slipping away, and upon consulting engineers, it was revealed that the tunnels create voids underground, leading to the collapse of the infrastructure above the tunnel.

The tunnel dilemma

The process of reconstruction in the Damascus neighborhood of Jobar faces the dilemma of the tunnels extending for kilometers underground.

The length of the tunnels in the neighborhood varies, from small tunnels that fit only one person to large tunnels designated for the passage of vehicles, goods, and light and heavy weapons.

According to residents of Jobar, the tunnels house arms depots and field hospitals used by opposition factions during their control of the area.

Jobar’s board of trustees clarifies

Mohammed Awata, a member of the Jobar Municipal Board, explained to Enab Baladi that the tunnels pose a barrier to the return of displaced persons to Jobar, as they extend deep underground. Some of these tunnels occupy vast areas of Jobar, and their locations cannot be easily determined, requiring engineering studies to identify them.

Some of these tunnels contain remnants of war, making their filling a difficult task that needs military cooperation to handle the remnants safely without causing further damage to the area. Initially, land mines and remnants of war must be removed, followed by either filling the tunnels or utilizing them in the reconstruction process.

Awata confirmed that the Jobar Board of Trustees, in cooperation with the Damascus Governorate and volunteer engineers, is working on a structural study plan, creating a layout to analyze these tunnels, identify their locations, and determine how to manage them in a way that ensures a safe return for the residents.

The number of completely destroyed buildings in the Eastern Ghouta region has reached 9,353, in addition to 13,661 severely damaged buildings and 11,122 partially destroyed buildings, bringing the total of affected buildings to 34,136, according to a report by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

How tunnels were used

To withstand the siege imposed by the Assad regime on Jobar and the surrounding neighborhoods, Syrian opposition factions relied on digging tunnels to secure the needs of residents in Eastern Ghouta.

The tunnels in Jobar served as an economic conduit for besieged areas in Eastern Ghouta, as they were used to smuggle goods, including food, medical supplies, and fuel, in addition to ammunition and weapons for the armed opposition factions.

Both the Syrian regime and opposition factions used some tunnels to plant land mines, aiming to explode targets on the ground.

The Jobar neighborhood in eastern Damascus witnessed fierce battles in recent years between opposition factions and Syrian regime forces, during which the neighborhood was bombarded with various types of weaponry, leading to widespread destruction of its buildings.

Regime forces managed to take control of the neighborhood in April 2018, following a settlement agreement with the al-Rahman Legion, under which fighters from Eastern Ghouta were evacuated to northern Syria.

After taking control of Jobar, the regime forces prohibited residents from entering, imposing security approvals for them to check their homes.