Syria lies in ruins after 6 years of conflict

A general view taken on Jan. 21, 2017 shows the destruction of the luxurious Carlton Hotel which was destroyed by insurgents on May 8, 2014, in the old city of Aleppo, Syria. Thousands of people have returned to their homes in east Aleppo that was held by rebels for more than four years until government forces took full control of it in December 2016. East Aleppo has suffered wide destruction because of airstrikes and shelling.

In this Jan. 20, 2017 photo, a Syrian man carries a baby as he walks past rubble in the once rebel-held Salaheddine neighborhood of eastern Aleppo, Syria. Aleppo, Syria's largest city, was widely brought to ruin by years of war, and now with Russia and Turkey leading peace efforts, international officials say it is time to start talking about rebuilding Aleppo and other cities. But there are few answers on how to do it, with the world reluctant to donate the billions needed and a political settlement in the war still uncertain and far off.

Residents walk through the destruction of the once rebel-held Salaheddine neighborhood in eastern Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.

A mortar shall is seen in the foreground as people visit the heavily damaged Grand Umayyad mosque while the Aleppo citadel is seen in the background, in the old city of Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017.

In this Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017 photo, youths climb on the rubble of the collapsed minaret at the heavily damaged Great Mosque of Aleppo, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria. The mosque, also known as the Umayyad Mosque, a centuries-old treasure at the heart of one of the world's oldest cities, is today a grim monument to the ravages of Syria's war. The doors have been blasted away, the walls have been shredded by bullets, and the minaret where the Muslim call to prayer sounded for 900 years has been toppled and shattered.

People walk through mounds of rubble which used to be high rise apartment buildings in the once rebel-held Ansari neighborhood in the eastern Aleppo, Syria on Jan. 20, 2017.

A view of the fortified entrance and the outer gate of the Citadel of Aleppo on August 28, 2008, in the center of the old city of Aleppo, Syria. The Citadel of Aleppo is a large medieval fortified palace which is considered to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world. Usage of the Citadel hill dates back at least to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Subsequently occupied by many civilizations including the Greeks, Byzantines, Ayyubids and Mamluks, the majority of the construction as it stands today is thought to originate from the Ayyubid period. A great deal of conservation work has taken place in the 2000s by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) in collaboration with the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities.

People walk past banners of President Bashar al-Assad outside the historic citadel on the outskirts of Aleppo on March 9, 2017.

Syrian soldiers check visitors at the main gate of the ancient Aleppo Citadel, that government troops used as a military base, in Aleppo on Jan. 21, 2017.

A general view shows damaged buildings in old Aleppo's Jdeideh neighboorhood on December 9, 2016.

A picture taken on March 14, 2014, shows a partial view of the ancient oasis city of Palmyra, 215 kilometers northeast of Damascus. From the 1st to the 2nd century, the art and architecture of Palmyra, standing at the crossroads of several civilizations, married Grecco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences.

People walk near the remains of Arch of Triumph, also called the Monumental Arch of Palmyra in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on March 31, 2016, which was destroyed by jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) group in 2015. Syrian troops backed by Russian forces recaptured Palmyra on March 27, 2016, after a fierce offensive to rescue the city from jihadists who view the UNESCO-listed site's magnificent ruins as idolatrous.

A photographer holds his picture of the Temple of Bel taken on March 14, 2014 in front of the remains of the historic temple after it was destroyed by Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in September 2015 in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on March 31, 2016.

Rebel fighters sit inside the al-Maraa museum, said to be the third largest museum of Roman-era mozaics in the world, in the town of Maaret Al-Numan, in the Idlib province, on November 17, 2012. After months of repeated airstrikes and artillery barrages by Syrian government forces outside Maaret Al-Numan, fighting for this crucial town on the Aleppo-Damascus highway shows little sign of abating. The Free Syrian Army control the town, but the Syrian army are free to bombard it at will.

The Ottoman era Murad Pasha caravanserai (or Khan Murad Pasha), which dates back to 1565 and serves as a museum with a collection of ancient artifacts and mosaics, is seen partially destroyed in the Syrian city of Maaret al-Numan in the Idlib province, which is under the control of opposition fighters, on June 16, 2015, following reported air strikes by Syrian government forces. Ten Arab countries said on May 14 they would coordinate to counter artifact smuggling and preserve the region's heritage sites as more than 215,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began in 2011, and more than half of the country's population has been displaced.

Syrian men and Civil Defense volunteers, also known as the White Helmets, inspect the damage following an air strike on the village of Maaret al-Numan, in the country's northern province of Idlib, on December 4, 2016. At least 46 people were killed in suspected Russian air strikes on several parts of the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based monitor said those killed in the strikes, on three locations in the province, were mostly civilians.