Beirut: A 75-year-old Syrian man who returned to his village in northern Raqqa province after nearly 12 years of displacement found his family home reduced to rubble and the trees in its garden gone.

According to Anadolu Agency, Ahmet Abbas said he had been forced to leave Salib, near the Syrian-Turkish border, because of pressure from the YPG terrorist group. For years, Abbas had dreamed of returning to the house where he grew up and made memories with his family. He said he began the journey home expecting to find the building largely intact and in need of only cleaning and repairs.

'Our only dream was to return home. We thought we would find it as we had left it and that all we would need to do was clean and put things in order,' Abbas told Anadolu. But when he arrived, he found little more than rubble and fragments of the doorway. 'I had kept the key to my house for years,' he said. 'I had hoped to return with my brother and his children and enter my home, but instead I was confronted with its ruins.'

Abbas said even the walnut trees in the garden, beneath which he had spent years sitting in the shade, were gone. 'More than 90% of the village has been destroyed. Most of the houses have been completely razed or blown up with mines,' he said. The father of five blamed the YPG for the destruction of his home and other buildings in the village.

Abbas recalled that people from different ethnic backgrounds had once lived together peacefully in the area. 'We were related to Kurdish families and lived together like brothers. We had strong ties,' he said. As he walked through the debris, Abbas said the first item he searched for was a large mirror inherited from his mother. He broke down in tears as he described failing to find it.

'The mirror belonged to my mother. It was a memory of both my mother and father. When I returned, it was gone too,' he said. Abbas said the destruction had taken not only his home but also many of the belongings that connected him to his family and his past. 'There is no house left and not a single tree. Everything has been burned and destroyed,' he said. 'The word 'devastation' is not enough to describe what happened.'