Feature: Syrians recount life without electricity during rebel presence in eastern Damascus

Photo taken on Oct. 8, 2018 shows the grandchildren of 50-year-old Samar Sbeini watching a cartoon on TV in their grandmother's house in the town of Kafr Batna in the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus, Syria. People in Kafr Batna and other areas of Eastern Ghouta had remained for years without electricity until the Syrian army liberated the region from rebels last May. The Syrian government has started exerting efforts to rehabilitate the areas. Now 70 percent of electricity has been back to the populated areas in Eastern Ghouta, according to an electricity emergency department official. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)