A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
For many Syrians beginning to rebuild after the country's long civil war, hope is colliding with pain. There are also new signs of life in neighborhoods destroyed by troops loyal to Syria's former dictator. NPR's Emily Feng and Jawad Rizkallah take us to one of those neighborhoods.
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: We first came to this suburb of Damascus, called Tadamon, because we wanted to see how it was finally rebuilding.
(SOUNDBITE OF DRILL RUMBLING)
FENG: For the first time in years, you can hear the sound of construction in Tadamon. People are moving back - some after more than a decade away now that the old regime is gone. Mohammad Sahli is a 25-year-old electrician born and raised in this neighborhood. He's helping rewire and renovate this destroyed home.
MOHAMMAD SAHLI: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: He says he wants the idea of renovation to be contagious, to inspire the neighbors to rebuild, too. But as residents come back, they're also discovering dark memories.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHOVEL DIGGING)
FENG: And that's when we learn that to find the dead in this neighborhood of Damascus, all you have to do is dig.
ABU AYMAN: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: Abu Ayman, a resident, waves his hands around.
AYMAN: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: He says, "where you see freshly dug earth, you sometimes find bones." Other residents gather around. They insist on showing us. And so NPR producer Jawad Rizkallah and I let ourselves be guided through the rubble in Tadamon.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
JAWAD RIZKALLAH, BYLINE: These look to be, like, children's bones, they're saying.
FENG: Tadamon was one of the Damascus neighborhoods most viciously besieged by forces aligned with Syria's former dictator, Bashar al-Assad. They pounded most of Tadamon into dust with tanks and artillery because it was one of the earliest, most staunch holdouts for rebel resistance against Assad. And Malik Moustafa, another resident, told us when Assad's forces breached Tadamon, they ruled it with impunity.
MALIK MOUSTAFA: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: Moustafa shows us the human bones still left behind from the executions during that time. Then he points to the frail concrete ruins looming over us.
MOUSTAFA: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: Moustafa tells us they used to throw people blindfolded off these buildings.
MOUSTAFA: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: "There used to be more bones," Moustafa says, "but over the years, the dogs got to them." Tadamon is also one of hundreds of sites across Syria where investigators are uncovering mass graves. Thousands of Syrians are still missing and presumed dead. In 2013, more than 220 people - ordinary civilians - were executed in Tadamon in a massacre widely documented by human rights groups and governments, including the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: They were shot and burned and buried on this dirt street. Today, there's nothing marking the deaths - just an unspoken agreement that no one walks across the street anymore. But there's also life returning to Tadamon.
RIZKALLAH: You see some color now here. Things are starting to return to normal.
FENG: There's the primary colors of a freshly painted mural, carefully potted plants and bright laundry hung up to dry. Tadamon still has no electricity or running water. Most structures are completely shot through, and walls are gaping with holes. Still, 17-year-old Abir Rahim decided to come back with her family after the regime fell. They're now living in the burned-out remains of her uncle's house. The sooty walls still reek of smoke.
ABIR RAHIM: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: She says she has no memories of Tadamon. Her family fled when she was just a child. And since then, she's floated from one site to another. Her last home was a tent camp in northern Syria.
How long are you planning on staying here?
RAHIM: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: "Forever," she replies, with the confidence of someone with nowhere else to go.
Emily Feng, NPR News, Damascus. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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