'Like A Grave': Syrians Shelter Underground In Rebel Bastion

Kansafra, Syria, Sept 21 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Sep, 2023 ) :In a battered village in Syria's last main opposition bastion, one resident has hewn a bomb shelter out of rock to stay on his land and protect his family from attacks.

Kansafra, in the south of Idlib province, often comes under Syrian army fire targeting militants who control the area, while Russian warplanes circle above and carry out air strikes in support of ally Damascus.

Many families have fled the village, located less than two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the front lines.

Now, just a few shops remain open, while heavily damaged buildings line the streets.

But Ahmad Khalil, 53, would not leave.

"People keep telling us to go to a camp for displaced people, but these camps are a thousand times worse," he said.

Khalil carved out the shelter next to his house in 2017.

Winding, narrow steps lead down to a small room with a low, curved roof, illuminated with sunlight from a shaft and a dim lamp.

"I prefer to stay here under the bombs," he said, even though the shelter is "like a grave".

The rebel-held Idlib region in Syria's northwest is home to about three million people, around half of them displaced from other parts of the country during more than a decade of conflict.

Many live in impoverished tented settlements, dependent on international aid.

Militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, controls swathes of Idlib, as well as parts of the adjacent provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.

Fighting has intensified in recent weeks, so Khalil's family has been spending more time underground.