
In pictures: Syrians find shelter in jails, caves and graves

Due to a lack of available shelters to accommodate 900,000 Syrians who have fled their homes in the last three months, some have been forced to seek shelter in a cemetery chapel in the town of Samarda, Idlib (MEE/Yousef Gharaibi)

The hollowed-out remains of a police station in the city of Maarat al-Numan houses dozens of families (MEE/Mustafa Dahnon)

An elderly woman, who has been recently displaced for the second time and now lives in the old police station in Maarat al-Numan, can be seen making bread (MEE/Mustafa Dahnon)

Displaced from the Aleppo countryside, some now reside at the archaeological site of Deir Amman in Aleppo province (MEE/Abdulwajed Haj Esteifi)

Deir Amman is one among many archaeological sites in Syria, a country with a heritage stretching back thousands of years (MEE/Abdulwajed Haj Esteifi)

The steep walls of an old prison house those displaced from the southern countryside of Idlib (MEE/Mustafa Dahnon)

Reem Rihani rearranges her room inside the former education directorate building, home to dozens of families displaced from the southern Idlib countryside (MEE/Mustafa Dahnon)

Abu Mahmoud and his family live inside the former education directorate building (MEE/Mustafa Dahnon)

With few safe places to live above ground, some have taken up residence in underground caves (MEE/Mustafa Dahnon)

Subterranean caves can offer respite from the bitter Syrian winter but are sometimes frequented by wild animals (MEE/Mustafa Dahnon)