IS leaves farmers with hard row to hoe

BAGHOUZ, Syria — A year after the last flag of the Islamic State group was lowered in the Syrian village of Baghouz, farmer Hamad al-Ibrahim is trying to restore his damaged land. But traces of the extremist group are still all around him in this small and remote village near the Iraqi border.

At the foot of a craggy hill, 75-year-old Ibrahim spots discarded explosives belts and tattered military vests crumpled in the dust.

“We are fixing the wreckage so we can sow this land with wheat for bread,” says the man, who heads an extended family of 75 people.

In a battered encampment on the edge of the village, once crammed with thousands of IS fighters and their relatives, Ibrahim’s family now works to clean up the detritus of war.

They have found land mines planted where Ibrahim hopes his wheat crops will grow and, on some occasions, weapons buried beneath the ground.

“When we came back and saw what had happened to our land, my son was going to go mad. I was scared he was going to have a stroke,” Ibrahim says.

“This wreckage feels like a wound in my body.”

At the entrance to Baghouz, fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces verify identity papers and conduct patrols at strategic points.

A spokesman for the DeirEzzor Military Council, a body affiliated with the SDF, says Baghouz is secure, but IS cells “continue to operate in nearby villages such as al-Shaafa and al-Sousa”.

Despite the looming threat of attacks, half of Baghouz’s residents have returned in recent months, bringing a semblance of normal life with them.

Vendors sell fruit and vegetables from small roadside carts beneath listing balconies.

Many war-battered apartment blocks are abandoned, while those inhabited lack running water and electricity.

Amid the devastation, an outbreak of leishmaniasis — a skin disease caused by a microscopic parasite spread by sandflies — has gripped the village.

The illness is endemic in Syria but has become more prevalent during the nine-year civil war, especially in areas rocked in recent years by clashes to expel IS extremists.

Baking flatbread on a rudimentary stove, Faten al-Hassan says the outbreak of the disfiguring disease in Baghouz is significant.

“All my kids have leishmaniasis, and it’s not just them. Most residents suffer from this illness too,” the 37-year-old said.

But at least, “we are living inside our home, and for now, this is enough”, she adds.