Homs, Syria's third-largest city, has been reduced to rubble after President Bashar al-Assad's forces laid siege to the rebels holed up in the city.

Now that the rebels have left the city, residents have been returning to retrieve anything salvageable from what's left of their homes.

AFP photographer Joseph Eid captured these atmospheric photos in the Old Town.

Rays of light burst through holes in the roof of Maskuf covered market, or Souk, in the Old City of Homs
Rays of light burst through holes in the roof of Maskuf covered market, or Souk, in the Old City of Homs Joseph Eid/AFP
souk
A woman walks past a burning shop in the Maskuf Souk in the Old City of Homs Joseph Eid/AFP
A broken guitar lies on the street next to handmade grenades the Old City of Homs
A broken guitar lies on the street next to handmade grenades the Old City of Homs Joseph Eid/AFP
teddy
Residents of the Old City of Homs carry their belongings out from their neighbourhood Joseph Eid/AFP
barrels
Anti-sniper curtains hang over a barricade made of barrels at a former frontline in a destroyed part of the Old City of Homs Joseph Eid/AFP
Sandbags remain on a former frontline in a destroyed neighbourhood of the Old City of Homs
Sandbags remain on a former frontline in a destroyed neighbourhood of the Old City of Homs Joseph Eid/AFP
A woman retrieves belongings from her home in the Old City
A woman retrieves belongings from her home in the Old City Joseph Eid/AFP
cloth
A resident of the Old City of Homs carries rolls of cloth out of a destroyed neighbourhood Joseph Eid/AFP
Syrian children carry shop mannequins in a destroyed neighbourhood of the Old City of Homs
Syrian children carry shop mannequins in a destroyed neighbourhood of the Old City of Homs Joseph Eid/AFP
A mortar round is seen on a road in a destroyed neighbourhood of the Old City
A mortar round is seen on a road in a destroyed neighbourhood of the Old City Joseph Eid/AFP
cases
Syrians carry their belongings past destroyed buildings Joseph Eid/AFP
A heavily damaged building in a destroyed neighbourhood of the Old City of Homs
A heavily damaged building in a destroyed neighbourhood of the Old City of Homs Joseph Eid/AFP
christ
A damaged painting of Christ lies on the ground in the Syrian Orthodox Um al-Zinar church in the Christian Hamidiyeh neighbourhood Joseph Eid/AFP
church office
A man walks through a damaged building in the compound of the Syrian Orthodox Um al-Zinar church Joseph Eid/AFP
Related
Syria