Idlib, Syria--The streets of the Syrian city of Idlib are still virtually deserted a week after its capture from government forces by Islamist rebels including fighters from Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.
All around, the carcasses of cars and rubble of crumpled buildings bear witness to the ferocity of the fighting for the northwestern city, which is only the second provincial capital to be lost by the government in more than four years of civil war.
A handful of grocers and vegetable stalls have reopened for business but many of their customers have fled, terrified by the fighting and the retaliatory air strikes that followed the city's fall on March 28.
"I'm hardly selling anything, mostly because everyone has fled town because of the brutal fighter jet bombings," said Saad Muarawi, a spice vendor.
Muarawi says he has had no difficulty in getting the goods to sell despite the city changing hands.
"I have the products," he says, adding that now they come from other rebel-held parts of northern Syria.
"Before, the regime forced us to get our supplies from the coastal areas, or Hama. But now, thank God, the road is open."
Many of the shops around Muarawi's show damage from the fighting. Some are gutted, others have their facades blown in.
Outside, only a few people venture out, some on bicycles, other on foot.
Before the uprising erupted in March 2011, Idlib had a population of around 200,000, which was swelled in subsequent years by thousands seeking refuge from fighting in the surrounding countryside.
But many of those fled as the rebels advanced, and most of the more than 130 people killed in the battle for the city were combatants.
Only a few residents have so far returned.
AFP
