When Abdo Bakri returned to his hometown in northwestern Syria on Saturday after more than five years roaming the area in search of safe shelter for his family during the country’s civil waraubet, he did not know what he would find.

Driving along the highway — retracing some of the same routes he, his wife and their children took years ago to flee their home in the town of Saraqib, which became an opposition stronghold soon after the war began — he passed families taking photos and selfies on an abandoned military tank by the side of the road.

In the back seat, his son sat listening to his father talk, his own memories of their city just a faint hint.

“Thank God Saraqib has returned to us and we will return and rebuild it, the city that the Assad regime destroyed,” Mr. Bakri said.

When he arrived to the home he had worked years to build for his family, a wave of relief spread over him. It was still standing. The doors and windows had been wrenched off, but the walls and roof remained.

He got out of his vehicle and knelt in a prayer of thanks, pressing his forehead against the cool concrete of his home’s entrance.

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• Syrians
• aubet
• War
• displaced