The Turkish border is closed and government forces are besieging them
Roman and Byzantine archaeological sites ... the last refuge for Syrians fleeing war
Syrian families find shelter in the ancient rubble.
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Archaeological sites are surrounded by fertile land.
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Children play on the walls of an archaeological site in northern Syria.
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Displaced people in northern Syria face an unknown future.
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As the sun sets, Syrian children, dressed in ragged clothes and shredded shoes, lead sheep through the stone walls of a deserted Byzantine settlement, more than 1,000 years ago, to a nearby ancient cave, where animals spend the night.
Vegetables grew between the remains of two rectangular doors decorated with carved patterns;
Giant stones were scattered around, what was once a vast town.
And in the vast archaeological site in Kefir, Syria, where (Abu Ramadan) and his family found shelter, more than a year ago, after fleeing an attack by the Syrian government forces, and they have resided in these Byzantine ruins since then.
The rebel-held area is small and crowded, and people are trapped, with a wall to the north, along the Turkish border, to prevent them from fleeing, while "enemy" government forces are stationed to the south.
(Abu Ramadan), 38, said that he did not care much about the history of the site as an ancient commercial and agricultural center, but he appreciated the strong walls that block the wind, and the abundance of stones scattered on the ground, with which a family that lost everything could form a new life. "We built it from among the ruins," said the head of the family, pointing to a chicken coop and a wood-burning stove, continuing, "We, too, have become rubble."
Given that the Syrian civil war, which has been going on for 10 years, has displaced millions of people, families like the Abu Ramadan family have sought refuge from the modern war in the ancient villages spread across the hills in the northwest of the country, an area that is still outside the control of President Bashar al-Assad's government. Since their original owners left them between the 8th and 10th centuries, these monuments have remained in remarkably good condition for more than 1,000 years, and their stone structures have largely withstood the passage of the empires, despite natural factors such as wind and rain. But the current conflict in Syria has posed new threats to these sites, which include columned churches, multi-storey homes and baths. The façades of the monuments, now, are disfigured with bullets, while the columns have been shattered by the air strikes, and the limestone walls have also been affected by the attacks of regular soldiers and rebels, who have been fighting for years.
Thousands of years of human settlement have left Syria full of historical sites, dating back to the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman eras.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) identified six world heritage sites in the country, including ruins in the northwest, called "ancient villages in northern Syria", in 2011.
Museum in the air
Archaeologists fear that using these sites as informal refugee camps represents a huge threat to the future of these sites, as families add new walls, build tents and move stones. "The walls protect us from wind, cold and everything else," said Abdulaziz Hassan, 45, whose family lives in a tent inside the remains of the 1,800-year-old temple of Zeus Pomus near the village of Babuta. Hassan was a gardener before the war, and he had fled with his family repeatedly to flee the government advance to the rebel areas, and finally settled in the Byzantine ruins, because the family did not have to pay the rent, as did many families, who set up tents on private land. “Where are we going,” Hassan says. Everywhere you go, you have to pay. ”
The remains of the three walls of the temple towered over his tent, and the surrounding hills were marked by ruined columns and giant stones, with Greek inscriptions.
The war destroyed historical sites elsewhere in Syria, too, including the "fortress of the fortress," one of the best preserved Crusader castles in the world.
It was full of landmarks when the government seized it from the rebels in 2014. After the Islamic State militants took control of Palmyra, which dates back 2,000 years, they carried out executions in its Roman theater.
Historical sites, in northwestern Syria, near the border with Turkey, received less attention before the war, and were too many and ineligible as tourist sites, even though the area appears to be an open-air museum.
The remains of the temples
Visitors can search for remains of pagan temples and Christian churches, descend into underground caves dug at the foothills of the rocky hills, and admire the intricate designs around the windows and crosses carved on the entrances.
The Syrian government described them as "forgotten cities" to attract visitors.
UNESCO said that these buildings, which were built between the first and seventh centuries, provided "a wonderful testimony to rural life", during the transition from the pagan Roman Empire to the Christian Byzantine Empire.
The former Syrian antiquities official, Amr Al-Azem, who is currently a professor of Middle Eastern history at Shawnee State University, Ohio, says that ancient cities have been deserted over centuries due to changes in the climate, shifting trade routes and political control.
But not because of the war.
Efforts to protect the sites were frozen when war broke out in Syria in 2011, as armed groups began using them as bases.
In 2016, air strikes damaged Saint Simon's Church, and destroyed the remains of the pillars in which the saint is said to have lived near for about 40 years, before his death in 459. The pressure on the sites increased last year, when a government attack drove about a million people to the northwest, which Controlled by the rebels.
About 2.7 million, out of the 4.2 million people now living in the region, have been displaced elsewhere in Syria.
Temple ruins
Many Syrian families have taken refuge in the temple of Zeus Pomus, built 1,800 years ago, instead of living in overcrowded camps.
Dozens moved to the temporary camp amid the Roman ruins in the Baqara region, not far from the Turkish border.
After being forced from their homes during the 10-year conflict.
UNESCO has included Baqara in the list of human monuments.
Abdulaziz al-Hassan, a resident of the place, said he did not want to live in an overcrowded camp after fleeing the war, in northwestern Syria, so his family instead set up a tent in the ruins of the Roman temple, which dates back to 161 AD.
He, his wife and three children were among nearly a million Syrians who fled their homes last winter during an attack supported by Russia on Idlib, which is the last opposition stronghold in the country.
Treasure hunters
The new arrivals scrambled to seek shelter in destroyed buildings, olive groves, and sprawling campsites, while some settled in ancient archaeological sites.
Families with livestock seem to prefer these sites, as they have more space compared to the crowded refugee camps.
Many used the strong pre-cut stones to build animal pens or reinforce their tents.
Some archaeological sites contain underground caves, where families store their belongings and hide from air strikes when they hear fighter jets flying in the sky.
The official of antiquities in the Idlib Governorate's local administration, Ayman Nabo, said that the bombing and air strikes destroyed many historical sites, while poverty and the chaos of war encouraged illegal excavations by treasure hunters.
"If this continues, an archaeological site may completely disappear," Nabu said.
The local administration lacked the resources to protect the sites, but Nabu said he hoped the sites would remain, for future generations and for people now trapped in what he called the "Great Prison."
Scattered stones
"We no longer have a sea, we no longer have a river, and we no longer have a forest for children to visit, so people need the sites as places to breathe," said Ayman Nabo, the official in charge of antiquities in the local administration in Idlib governorate.
Currently, the archaeological sites are the last resort for families who have been bombed and affected by the effects of war.
"Whenever it rains, everything gets wet," said Jehan Jassim, 26, whose family has been displaced three times since fleeing her home, and ended up in a tent made of blankets and fabrics in the rubble of the Byzantine village of Deir Amman: "Whenever it rains, everything gets wet." We are afraid that the rocks will fall on them. ”
Jehan's sister, who was widowed due to the war, lives in a nearby tent with five children.
As the sun reflects on the moist wildflowers, the sheep wander among the scattered stones, grazing near an old wall painted with modern romantic phrases, in paint.
But Jihan did not find any romanticism in her surroundings, saying: "We wish we had stayed in our homes, and we did not come to these ruins."
2.7
A million people were displaced from separate places to the north of the country.
Since their original owners left them between the eighth and tenth centuries, the Syrian monuments have remained remarkably well for more than 1,000 years, and their stone structures have largely withstood the passage of the empires, despite natural factors such as wind and rain.
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