Traditional mud-brick houses that the people of northern Syria have built for thousands of years risk disappearing, as 12 years of war have emptied villages and left the buildings crumbling. "Our village once had 3,000 to 3,500 residents and some 200 mud houses," says Mahmud al-Mheilej, standing beside deserted homes with weeds growing out of the roofs. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES