Only the cemetery in Damascus's devastated suburb of Jobar showed signs of life on Friday as residents returned to visit and pray for Eid al-Adha, the first since Bashar al-Assad's fall.

Jawdat al-Qais fought back tears as he knelt at the tomb of his father, who died less than a month ago.

"His wish was to be buried in Jobar -- and Jobar was liberated and he was buried here," said Qais, 57.

"We carried out his wish, thank God," he said, adding that "many people haven't been able to be buried in their hometowns."

Once home to around 350,000 people, Jobar was turned into a wasteland due to heavy fighting from the start of Syria's civil war,........

© Al Monitor