Damascus, Syria – Nizar al-Madani, 34, stood with tears in his eyes as he looked around Qaboun.

After seven years of displacement, he returned on Tuesday to his neighbourhood in Syria’s capital, Damascus, only to find it levelled.

“We’d heard that the regime demolished the neighbourhood, but seeing it with my own eyes was utterly shocking,” he said.

When al-Madani and his family were displaced from Qaboun in 2017, many of the neighbourhood’s buildings were damaged.

“But today, there is no trace of these buildings… The regime has obliterated the neighbourhood’s features.”

He was not the only one who came out to Qaboun to see what was left after the regime of Bashar al-Assad fell.

Several residents of Qaboun who had also fled for their lives are walking around, trying to figure out where their houses could have been.

Revenge and destruction

The al-Assad regime would deliberately destroy areas that rose against him after regaining control, employing various laws to legitimise that.

Chief among these was Law No. 10 of 2018, which authorised the establishment of new urban zones in war-damaged areas and gave Syrian refugees only 30 days to prove ownership of their property. Failure to do so would result in the property being confiscated.

Many people were too afraid to come back to Syria or to their neighbourhoods, fearing that they would be arrested and charged with opposing al-Assad.

Nadeedah Hannawi, 50, told Al Jazeera that her family was unable to prove ownership of their home, having fled to the north where there was no regime-controlled bureaucracy, and because they did not have their ownership documents with them.

“The fallen al-Assad regime didn’t just displace us; it sought to steal the homes we had built with our life savings,” said Hannawi.

“Identifying where my home and my husband’s shop used to be was no easy task,” she added. “Even the cemetery holding the graves of our loved ones has been destroyed.

“The most important thing today is that the criminal Bashar al-Assad has fled, his regime has fallen, and our land has been returned to us. Together, we will rebuild it,” Hannawi said.

Mahmoud Jahbar, 53, echoed her sentiments.

“Al-Assad’s regime destroyed our homes and memories, but we’re hopeful that we’ll rebuild so our children have a place to call home.”