Photoblog: The hushed hum of the honeybees of Ghouta

Now, with the sounds of explosion, gunfire and mourning having filled the air for the past six years instead, the beekeepers of this encircled suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, warn the region's once-rich honey production faces a terminal decline.

Under siege since 2013 by forces loyal to the Syrian regime, the fertile Damascus suburb has been battered by seven years of fighting and is one of the last bastions of rebels fighting against Bashar al-Assad. 

With Ghouta's citizens largely cut off from the outside world, honey production has remained important for the locals.

In the absence of much needed medication, honey's long-known curative and antiseptic properties have become especially sought after.

Yet beekeepers in Ghouta say production levels are now approximately just half of what they used to be at their peak.

The ravages of war have caused a major degradation in the bees' natural pasturages - and experts here are especially troubled by the lack of migrating bees from the neighbouring provinces of Homs, Idlib and Hawran.

Some communal efforts have however been fostered to reverse the decline.

Beekeepers and local farmers in Ghouta are increasingly working together to plant pollen-rich crops to encourage bees into the area. 

Yet the honeybees of Ghouta still seem to be battling daily with death, much like the people of the suburb themselves.