A government soldier prepares to discharges rounds from a frontline bunker in Jobar (joh-BAH), about eight kilometres from the centre of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Three years of intense fighting has transformed what was once a thriving residential and industrial precinct into a virtual wasteland.
Riddled with bullet-holes, pounded by mortars, remnants of buildings litter the landscape - now a battlefield.
Scattered among the crumbling concrete, soldiers sit poised, ready for opposition movement.
Enemy lines here are occupied predominantly by rebel insurgents from "Jeish el-Islam" or "The Army of Islam".
Colonel Ahmed Zarqa (zah-kuh) leads the government force defending Jobar.
The 50-year-old says he has spent just two days in his own home in the past 14 months.
"The most imortant thing is that the surrounds of Damascus will be safe and we will get rid of all the rebels from Syria."
He's been wounded four times, refuses to wear any symbol of rank and says he and his soldiers live and fight together - like family.
"In addition to the spirit there is a good relationship between the soldiers and the most important thing is their belief of safety of their homeland."
The Colonel says his unit reflects the Syria he defends, comprising Christian, Shia and Sunni Muslim soldiers.
A complex series of tunnels beneath the battlefield are pivotal in this fight and those who know them best have a tactical edge.
At different times, both sides have held ascendency in underground clashes - and they've been active lately.
A soldier recounts a recent battle in which three opposition fighters were killed in an above-ground clash.
He says dozens died underground.
For the soldiers, life on the front-line is tough, the possibility of death ever-present - but Colonel Zarqa says a common goal unites them.
"There is a promise from all the soldiers that we will not go back to our families until the smile returns to all children in Syria."
And judging by the situation on the ground, that will be some time yet.
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