Syrian elder seeks memories in debris of E. Ghouta home

DAMASCUS, SYRIA - MARCH 24: As he passes by the debris of his home, Abu Mazen, a 70-year-old Syrian, recalls the 20 years he lived in the building in Kafr Batna town in the regime-besieged suburb of Eastern Ghouta. The elder man misses his two sons, who had to leave Syria to Jordan in 2012 after the outbreak of civil war in Syria a year earlier. He now lives with his wife, daughter and five grandchildren. With shaky hands, the debilitated grandfather searches the rubble of his home in the hope of finding something that would remind him of the old days. He finds a picture of his two sons when they were children. A fading smile appears on his face, but quickly sorrow takes over as he remembers his sons’ departure. “They travelled and left me alone to raise the orphaned children of my daughter after their father was martyred,” Abu Mazen told Anadolu Agency with a weak voice. “One of the girls is handicapped… I’m suffering here alone with these five orphans,” he said. The old man goes on to search the debris, finding some notebooks that may be the only thing that remained of his two sons. Moving along with his grandchildren, he goes to the kitchen that has been turned into a pile of rubble. The pans and dishes can be seen scattered on the ground. Abu Mazen comes out, asking his grandchildren to take some things. “An airstrike targeted us while we were taking some of our belongings from home after we had moved to live in the basement. Thanks God we were not hurt,” he said. The tragedy of Abu Mazen does not seem to stop at this point. The regime is still bombing Eastern Ghouta in violation of a UN Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire in war-torn Syria. Since Feb. 19, more than 1,000 people have reportedly been killed in attacks by the regime and its allies in Eastern Ghouta.(Footage by Amer Alshami/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)