Syrians flee to Roman ruins to dodge bombs

Hundreds of Syrians have fled life in the nation's heavily-bombed cities to try and dodge the artillery in ancient Roman ruins — CBS

Hundreds of Syrians trying to dodge the artillery in the nation's heavily-bombed cities have fled to "The Dead Cities," ancient Roman Ruins in Jebel Zawiya, south of Idlib.

Wounded rebel fighters take up residence in the ruins to convalesce without fear of being bombed by President Bashar Assad's air force.

A Syrian woman, displaced from her home by the civil war, cooks on a fire amid the ancient Roman ruins of Jabel Zawiya's "Dead Cities," as CBS News cameraman Thorsten Hoefle documents her daily life.

The thick stone-walled structures of the ruins -- abandoned some 1,500 years ago -- offer relative safety, but little in the way of modern conveniences.

A wide view of the "Dead Cities," ancient Roman ruins in Jabel Zawiya, about 20 miles south of the war-torn northern Syrian city of Idlib.

Many of the dwellings inhabited by displaced Syrians in the "Dead Cities" are underground — CBS

Many of the dwellings inhabited by internally displaced Syrians in the "Dead Cities" are underground.

Young Syrian girls stand outside the entrance to an underground dwelling in Roman ruins — CBS

Young Syrian girls, whose families fled their homes due to the daily artillery fire and shelling as President Assad's military battles rebel fighters in population centers, stand outside the entrance to their new home: an underground dwelling in the Roman ruins of Jabel Zawiya.

CBS News correspondent Clarissa Ward follows a Syrian woman into her adopted underground home in the Roman ruins of Jabel Zawiya's "Dead Cities."

Clarissa Ward interviews a Syrian woman in her cave home — CBS

Clarissa Ward interviews a Syrian woman, as a child looks on by the wood burning stove, in the family's cave home in Jabel Zawiya's "Dead Cities."

While relatively safe from the war underneath the thick stone ceiling, Syria's internally displaced who choose to live in the Roman ruins essentially live life as the original inhabitants did -- with fire as their primary means of heating and cooking.

Clarissa Ward interviews members of a family of 11 who are living in a cramped cave in the "Dead Cities" to escape the government bombardment.

A Syrian woman bakes bread in a earthenware oven in her underground dwelling in Jabel Zawiya's "Dead Cities."

Some of the cave dwellers have started baking their own bread on-site because it's too dangerous to line up at bakeries in the city, where government airstrikes and shelling have indiscriminately pummeled populated areas.

Syrians stand inside their cave home in Jabel Zawiya's "Dead Cities," where hundreds have taken up residence to avoid the constant bombardment of Syria's two-year civil war.