DOUMA, Syria, April 20 (Xinhua) -- "Why are you living in a destroyed home? This is my house, where else should I go?" Ahmad muttered, standing in his home, of which walls and windows had been destroyed in Douma district east of Damascus.
His tone seemed to show his helpless, but the truth is that these who were caught in the middle of the war have developed a strong resilience, something they could have never thought of having before the war.
Nothing is in place in this man's house, everything is upside down, reflecting the lives of those who have suffered during the rebels' presence in their areas in Douma and elsewhere in the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus.
Ahmad is not alone in this situation, as Douma has suffered during the war from the lack of everything with the presence of the Islam Army rebels, who have kept food at their storage while the civilians were paying the price.
"Our lives during the rebels' presence were tragic as there was nothing to sustain us and grant us a dignified life. We have no security and face the lack of food and drinks... there was nothing at all in this place," he told Xinhua while standing at what used to be his porch.
After the evacuation of rebels last week, the man said: "Our lives are much better now that we can move in and out and construction materials have become available."
"I want to rebuild my home and live in it with dignity with my wife and kids," he said.
Ahmad is one of those civilians who did not choose to leave their homes during the war and insisted on staying in their places.
In the war-torn streets of Douma, very few cars could be seen as people have opted to ride bicycles, even horses to move from one place to another.
Most noticeable is the laughter of the children in this shattered place. They are laughing and chasing one another as if their innocence has shielded them from the woes of war.
In a small garden, a young boy brought his little sisters, putting them on a rusty slider and a swing with giggles and apparent joy in spite of the destruction that could not hide itself.
"We live nearby and thankfully we have this little garden near our home and we just want to have fun," the boy said, rushing to help his little sister on the swing.
Some people in Douma were actually coming out of the buildings that were so damaged as if no life could exist there.
Near the Martyrs Square in Douma, Jamal emerged from a severely-destroyed building, all covered in soot.
When asked the same question of how could you live here now, the man said "Now there is nothing better than this" and he meant it.
"We are living our best days now, It is much better than before. When the rebels were here, they would sell 1 kg of sugar for 5,000 Syrian pounds, now it is 200 only."
His son followed him, and he was covered in soot from head to toe.
The six-year-old kid is not in school because it was not possible when the rebels controlled the area, said the father.
Douma has not only grabbed headlines recently, but also attracted U.S.-led missile strikes over the Western allegations of chemical weapons use in that area on April 7.
In a tour for Xinhua and other international media to that area on Friday, the reporters visited the hospital, where a video footage was shot, purporting to show civilians being splashed with water. Activists claimed the government forces had used chlorine gas against civilians.
In the operation room where the video was shot, paramedics were there answering questions about what happened on the night of April 7.
A paramedic in the intense care unit told Xinhua that at that night when the conflict was raging, they received several patients with allergies from the dust in the air in Douma.
"When the people were here receiving treatment, masked men came to the emergency room and started screaming chemical weapons. Some of them started recording videos of the people while others took the water hose and started splashing people with water to make an illusion that the people who were there got exposed to chlorine gas," he said.
"After that, we ran tests and found out that none of the people got exposed to any kind of chemical material. They went to the hospital only because of the annoying dust which resulted from the destruction... It was a propaganda and there was no chemical attack," he said.
When the rebels released the video, they were being defeated by the Syrian army after they did not deliver on their pledge to leave Douma under a Russian-mediated agreement.
People believe the rebels wanted to exert pressure on the Syrian army to halt its military offensive so they can remain in Douma but their attempt attracted a series of missile strikes from the U.S., France and Britain last Saturday in retaliation for the alleged chemical attack without independent investigation on the matter.
On Saturday afternoon, hours after the missile strikes, an inspection team with the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in Damascus as a prelude to investigating the alleged incident.
The Syrian government, while denying carrying out the attack, said the U.S. and the U.S.-backed rebels had deliberately staged the incident to justify the U.S.-led missiles strikes on Syria.
Later on, Syria's main ally Russia's media said its country has captured those who faked the video footage after the rebels finally withdrew from Douma last week.
Contrary to the mass destruction that Douma has suffered, there was a well-built and complicated underground network of tunnels constructed by the rebels.
The tunnels were built with lights and solid walls. They have even used rocks similar to that on the sidewalks to make the ground easy to walk or drive.
The tunnels are like another city. It is where the rebels ran all their operations and planned all their attacks.
It is believed that with the evacuation of the rebels, Douma and the rest of Eastern Ghouta have become safer and so is the capital Damascus that had suffered a lot in the past six years of war.
