Blog: For Syrians in a former rebel bastion, reconciling with the government means a return to normalcy — at a price

A rain of mortar shells, artillery and bombs followed. Rebels in Duma continued fighting. But in April, a week after a suspected chlorine attack on Duma that was widely blamed on loyalist forces, the town’s dominant rebel faction, the Army of Islam, surrendered its heavy weapons and accepted safe passage north to Idlib province.