War Rubble Blocks Residents’ Return to Al-Hajar Al-Aswad

The city of Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, south of Damascus, remains riddled with extensive destruction and piles of rubble that hinder residents from returning home. Though hundreds of families have returned there from northern Syria and other parts of Damascus, the absence of basic services and the paralysis of clearance operations remain major obstacles to stability.

Residents’ testimonies highlight the difficulty and high cost of private repairs, while the Rural Damascus governorate’s efforts are limited to sporadic initiatives that have yielded no tangible results. Officials acknowledge both the scale of the destruction in most neighbourhoods and the lack of available resources.

Located seven kilometres south of central Damascus, Al-Hajar Al-Aswad today has a population of around 50,000, down from approximately 500,000 before 2011, many of them displaced from Quneitra. The city suffered severe devastation due to fighting during the period of opposition control between 2012 and 2015, and later under the control of the Islamic State between 2015 and 2018. Assad regime forces regained control of the city in 2018 after a large-scale aerial and artillery bombardment campaign, which destroyed entire neighbourhoods and forcibly displaced the remaining residents. At the end of 2021, the Rural Damascus Governorate allowed conditional returns to some neighbourhoods of Al-Hajar Al-Aswad deemed suitable for habitation.

After the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, around 2,000 families returned to Al-Hajar Al-Aswad from northern Syria, in addition to a large number of families previously living in Damascus, particularly in the neighbouring Al-Tadamon district, local sources explained. They noted that the volume of rubble remains enormous, blocking access to Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, particularly along main streets and in front of homes.

In recent weeks, rumours surfaced that rubble clearance had begun in parts of the city, but local sources clarified that a small work crew with a limited number of machines, some belonging to the Quneitra Governorate, removed debris in the district for only two days before stopping. According to these sources, the team attributed the halt to a lack of resources to handle such a massive amount of rubble.

Residents’ testimonies reflect their struggles with the rubble and the destruction of their homes, amid the absence of serious initiatives by the Rural Damascus governorate to clear the debris, which would facilitate repairs and return.

Abu Zuhair, a man in his fifties who used to live in Al-Tadamon, said he was barred in 2023 by Assad regime forces from returning to his home in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, when only a small number of residents were allowed back after obtaining security clearance. Today, having finally returned to his home in Al-Hajar, which needs restoration, he found large piles of rubble blocking access. Clearing it would cost more than he can afford, so for now he makes brief visits to ensure the building is still standing and hasn’t been demolished.

Fadi, who returned from northern Syria with his family after leaving with opposition fighters under the 2018 reconciliation agreement, said he is ready to repair his home, which requires about SYP 50 million – roughly USD 5,000. However, he explained that the rubble outside his home adds a substantial extra cost if he has to remove it at his own expense. As a result, he is waiting for the governorate’s machinery to clear the debris, though he said such hopes feel distant. He is living for now with his wife’s family in Jdeidet Artouz, Rural Damascus, instead.

Umm Ali, a woman in her fifties living in Nahr Aisha, went to Al-Hajar Al-Aswad after the Assad regime’s fall to check on her house, then moved back in despite it being almost completely destroyed, after she and her husband carried out basic repairs. However, the rubble blocking the main road to her home still makes movement to and from the house difficult. She insists on staying to preserve what remains of her home, despite the absence of basic services like electricity and water. She said her neighbourhood hosts several families who returned after the regime’s fall, and despite repeated calls to remove the rubble, nothing has been done. Last month she saw four machines clearing a small quantity of debris over two days, but the work then stopped, Umm Ali added.

Abu Mahmoud, a man in his seventies, visits his neighbourhood of Al-Jazeera at the entrance of Al-Hajar Al-Aswad every other day to inspect his nearly destroyed home. The ground floor was once a grocery shop, but what was left of the house was looted by regime forces, while rubble now fills the interior and the walls are at risk of collapse. He is not sure who might help him repair or rebuild it.

These testimonies reflect the situation faced by thousands of returnees to Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, amid clear government shortcomings in restoring even the most basic services. The city has only one health clinic and two schools, while power lines remain destroyed with no plan for repair. Water is supplied at residents’ own expense, and rubble continues to block many families from returning to their homes.

A source in Rural Damascus governorate told The Syria Report that there is simply too much rubble in the city, and that the available machinery is insufficient to deal with it, especially as the area is almost completely destroyed, particularly the Al-Jazeera neighbourhood. However, the source noted that residents are now allowed to return without any restrictions, as the security clearance requirement imposed under the Assad regime has been lifted.

Clearance work in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad began in 2021, but so far the governorate’s machinery has not been able to remove more than 20 percent of the debris, the source said. They added that current resources do not allow the task to be completed quickly, and that it will take years to clear a significant portion, if not all, of the rubble. The source said efforts are currently focused on clearing some main roads to reopen them, work that took place in August before being temporarily halted while awaiting additional equipment to resume operations.

The source confirmed that destruction levels vary across neighbourhoods: in Al-Jazeera they range between 70 and 80 percent, with most houses at risk of collapse, while they are around 50 percent in Al-Wahda Street and about 30 percent in other areas. However, the source stressed that the city as a whole is almost entirely destroyed and will require many years to rebuild.

There is currently no project proposed to organise the area or to bring in reconstruction companies, although some residents have repaired their homes and are now living in them, the source added. Work on a new zoning plan for the city, which began in 2023, was halted after the regime’s fall, and the committees responsible for drafting the new plans were dissolved, the source added.

The situation in Al-Hajar Al-Aswad reveals that residents’ return remains bound by harsh realities: rubble persists as a financial burden beyond individuals’ capacity, while the governorate lacks the resources to respond adequately. This contradiction makes return theoretically possible but impossible in practical terms, as returning families still live in partially destroyed homes with no services. The absence of a clear plan for clearing debris and addressing varying levels of destruction leaves residents in a state of indefinite waiting and keeps the city’s future dependent on the authorities’ ability to move from promises to action.