Prior to the start of the Syrian civil war, an estimated 1.5 million people lived in and around the city of Homs, which was then the third largest city in Syria. But after four years of war, the once thriving metropolis has been reduced to an emptied wasteland.

A drone footage taken by RussiaWorks surveys the wreckage of present-day Homs.

The city was a magnet for anti-Assad protesters in 2011, and the conflict escalated until much of the city became a battleground between the Syrian military and rebel forces, the BBC reports. The military launched several major offensives against the rebels, who clung on in some sectors of the city before finally withdrawing completely in December 2015.

For comparison, another video has compiled a number of photos of the city before the war: