Rebel fighters from a kateeba (batallion) from Salma drop off a wounded comrade at a local make-shift hospital. The men spend all their time together: sleeping, eating, fighting, doing daily chores. When one is wounded or killed it weighs heavily on all of them, reflecting the vulnerability of each man in war.
A defected general from the Syrian Arab Army, now commanding officer of the kateeba in Salma. Years of experience means the younger fighters, often no older than 22, look to him as a fatherlike figure. Sending them into harms way is a necessary task, but not an easy one.
Meal times are important not just to eat, but to relax and take a short break from the ongoing war, only several meters and moments away, providing a period of calm in what is otherwise relentless artillery and helicopter attacks by regime forces.
The men receive boxes of donated clothes from Europe. They take what they need in preparation for the winter, before passing it out to the few remaining civilians unable to escape the violence.
While those with money or family outside Syria have all escaped, many are left behind to fend for themselves. This man, like many others, covers his face in order to hide his identity and thus protect his family, who are among the less fortunate, unable to escape regime-controlled territory.
A Russian-made attack helicopter operated by the Syrian Arab Airforce flies overhead in search of targets. The rebels' lack of anti-aircraft weapons makes them extremely vulnerable to aerial attacks.
Rebels patrol Salma, a town in northwestern Syria, as another day in the country's civil war draws to a close.
Syria\'s rebels appear to be slowly getting the upperhand against regime forces amid signs that President Bashar Assad is losing his grip on the country.
Syria\'s rebels appear to be slowly getting the upperhand against regime forces amid signs that President Bashar Assad is losing his grip on the country.
