Syrian farmers abandon the land for steadier jobs

After years of war, drought and economic crisis, Omar Abdel-Fattah was forced to rent out his farmland in northeast Syria, preferring a more stable job to provide for his family.

“It breaks my heart to see someone else working my land,” said Abdel-Fattah, 50, who grew wheat, cotton and vegetables in Jaabar al-Saghir, in Syria’s Raqa province, for three decades.