The main street of Kfar Batna district in the Damascus suburbs of Ghouta. All photos: Khaled Yacoub Oweis / The National
The Barada River, now a smelly stream, runs through eastern Ghouta
The Ghouta comprises built-up areas and farmland
A field in Maliha, eastern Ghouta, with the Qalamun Mountains in the backgound
The area is full of uncollected rubbish and building rubble
Women farmers walk past a field in Maliha
A street in Maliha
Ghouta has been described in literature as a beautiful garden area, but its landscape has become bleak because of decades of environmental degradation and economic collapse
The eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus - in pictures
