EXCLUSIVE: Jarablus rising from the ashes

JARABLUS, Syria — Life is coming back to Jarablus, the Syrian city liberated by Turkey-backed fighters in 2016 after two traumatic years under Daesh control. 

Slowly, residents are trying to rebuild their lives. 

Women can come out of their homes, children can play on the streets and shops have reopened.

“I hope our children can complete their education and enjoy their childhood and lives,” says Iman Alhaj, a mother.

“That they can have better lives than ours. Ours was full of wars, dead bodies, blood and bombings.”

Ajhaj is one of many people who sought refuge in Jarablus, after escaping the relentless bombardment of Syrian regime jets in Aleppo.

It was a double-whammy for many Syrians like her: escaping the regime planes and ending up in cities and towns controlled by violent Daesh militants.

In Jarablus, a city on the west side of the Euphrates River that was inhabited by 40,000 people before the war started, the remnants of Daesh still haunt.

In  a cemetery, Daesh shattered the tombstones, erasing the identity of those buried there, because it didn’t conform with the group’s idea of Islam.

It will take a while to rebuild the city and the lives of its residents scarred by the horrors of war.