Students attend class inside the Maar Shmarin Primary School, its walls scarred by bullet holes from the fighting between forces loyal to former President Bashar Assad and rebel groups, in the village of Maar Shmarin, in the Idlib countryside, Syria, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
October 30, 2025 - 11:15 PM
In the southern Idlib countryside, once a frontline in Syrian civil war, residents are trickling back to their villages after years in exile.
Repairing and reopening damaged and looted schools is key to the return of the displaced, but nearly a year after former President Bashar Assad was ousted in a rebel offensive, hundreds of schools are still destroyed.
Millions of children in Syria remain out of school, while others are attending class in gutted buildings without basic supplies.
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