Residents of Aleppo are expressing hope after the city was retaken two weeks ago by Islamists-led rebels, now in power in Damascus. Once Syria's economic capital, with a population of over two million, Aleppo still bears the scars of the violence: many buildings are still completely empty, dusty curtains flapping in the wind, facades cracked. Ramadan Dali, whose shop is one of the few still open in central Aleppo, hopes for better days. "It won't happen in a day. With all that has been destroyed in recent years, it will take time for things to return to the way they were," he predicts from his Chinese watch shop, plunged into darkness by the lack of electricity on his street. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES