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Mohamad Othman remembers going on school trips to ancient Syrian sites without imagining that one of them would be his home.
A 30-year-old man and his family have been living in a tent among the ruins of Srajableh, near the Turkish border, two and a half years ago when they fled for their lives in an attack by a government in northwestern Syria.
The rocks collected from the site are anchored in their tent, one of a dozen of them protecting families who fled their homes during the 10-year Syrian war.
Their clothes are hanging to dry on two lines hanging between the store and an old stone porch. Their children climb the rocks and balance on the walls in this unusual, if not dangerous, playground.
“In summer, we face scorpions, snakes and dust, and all the pressures of life, and in winter, the cold. The situation is depressing. There is no health service, ”Othman said.
Four children are struggling to make ends meet, depending on seasonal work, such as picking olives and any other work they can get. When there is no work, he is forced to borrow to provide the basics. Her children do not go to school.
“When the last bombing and attack started, we went to come here,” Othman said. “We couldn’t find a place to take shelter, so we lived here among the rubble.”
Srajableh, the first Christian settlement with 5th-century ruins, has become well-known among displaced people because they do not have to pay to sleep in it, unlike other areas where landlords charge rent.
“Everyone here was cultivating land and we had a way of life in our villages and we didn’t need anyone. But our destiny was to relocate, “Othman said.
“We did not leave our land of our own free will to come to an area that has been inhabited for thousands of years.”
Not far from Srajableh, in another northwest corner of Idlib province, the ancient Babisqa site is also offering shelter to those bombed from their homes.
In the pre-war phase, the rebels used the site as a base, with wiring installed by opposition fighters still operating from the old caves carved into the rock.
Livestock, sheep and goats were taken with them when they fled the Syrian government-controlled territory to rebel-held areas. Today, sheep and goats feed on ancient stones, while birds peck at the ground.
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