Battered by air strikes, the main stadium in the rebel-held city of Idlib in northwestern Syria hosted a soccer friendly on Wednesday, re-opening after three years of closure.
Wednesday's game pitched the White Helmets, rescuers in rebel-held zones, against a team from the University of Idlib. Both groups helped carry out basic repairs on the municipal facility.
The stadium had been heavily damaged by "the strikes that systematically targeted it, but we cleared the ground of wire, re-installed windows and doors and removed rubble," Yahya Arja, head of the White Helmets' Idlib branch, told AFP.
The stadium's re-opening has brought a moment of light relief and pride for players and fans.
"This stadium is the epicenter of football in Idlib province," said Assaad al-Assaad, a student who came to cheer on his university team.
"The reopening means that life and sport continue, despite the war and the shelling."
On the back of the curtain-raising friendly, the stadium will now host a mini-tournament between six teams, set to take place over the next few days.
The competition has been dubbed the "Martyrs of Ghouta," in memory of 1,700 civilians killed in Eastern Ghouta, a former rebel enclave outside Damascus retaken by the regime earlier this month.
Rebels and civilians evacuated from Ghouta have been transferred to Iblib.
