audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - Middle class residents of Damascus cling to a surreal good life, even with ISIS pounding on the door. In Damascus whose suburbs were bombed or damaged beyond any recognition after constant shelling and bomb attacks, life still goes on almost as normal, the Mosques and the Roman columns and pathways of the ancient soukhs untouched, the residents, many who live in the middle-class homes and apartment blocks around the inner city all somehow protected from ruination. Yet in the destruction that surrounds the capital, these citizens of Damascus have lost friends and relatives and suffered four years of savage civil war. More than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war. More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from Islamic State. The human cost of Syria's tragedy is rarely out of sight.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - An aerial view of residential neighborhoods of capital Damascus at dusk.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al Assad hangs in the older quarters of capital Damascus.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A souvenir stall in the older quarters of capital Damascus at dusk.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A local resident in a street of the Syrian capital.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - An elderly Syrian man outside a mosque.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A member of the Syrian Army in a street of the Syrian capital.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - People carry bread in the capital.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A young woman wears sun glasses on the streets.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - Syrian women shop for clothes at a marketplace.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A young Syrian woman walks on the streets of the capitol.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - People ride a bike in the Syrian capital.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A young man with a bag walks past a portrait of Syrian president Bashar al Assad in the older quarters of capital Damascus at dusk.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - Local residents in a street of the Syrian capital.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A view of the Syrian capital.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A man sells balloons outside the Umayyad Mosque in the Syrian capital.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - People walk by shops in the Syrian capital.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - People in a car in a street of the Syrian capital.
© Valery Sharifulin/TASS/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press

Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A man sells lemonade outside a mosque.
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Oct. 12, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A baker in the Syrian capital.
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Oct. 13, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A local resident rides a scooter in the Syrian capital.
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Oct. 13, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A view of the inner area of the Umayyad Mosque.
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Oct. 13, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - People study religious writings at the Umayyad Mosque.
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Oct. 13, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - A Syrian officer in a street of the old city in the Syrian capital.
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Oct. 13, 2015 - Damascus, Syria - Kids in the inner area of the Umayyad Mosque in the Syrian capital.
© Valery Sharifulin/TASS/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press