In rebel-held Douma, airstrikes a fact of life.

While the attacks in Paris galvanized international efforts against ISIS, Syria's civil war continues into its fifth year. For the residents of the rebel-held town of Douma, about 10 kilometres northeast of the capital Damascus, life goes on as best it can.

Here, a boy wounded in what activists in Douma say was an airstrike carried out by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad waits for treatment at a makeshift hospital on Nov. 18.

(Abd Doumany/AFP/Getty)

On the ground, no sign of ceasefire.

Despite continuing talk of a ceasefire among the fractured rebel groups in Syria and government forces — a ceasefire could be just weeks away, according to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who has been leading the peace talks — sources in Damascus report airstrikes like this one, on Nov. 7, are commonplace.

(Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

(Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

Women, children hit hardest.

During a meeting of the UN Security Council on Nov. 16, senior officials highlighted the effects of the conflict on civilians, especially women and children. The UN estimates that 250,000 people have died in four years of fighting in Syria.

Young Syrians in Douma take shelter in a doorway on Nov. 17. (Mohammed Badra/EPA)

A boy fills a jug with well water in Douma on Nov. 17. (Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

A elderly man joins young Syrians playing street soccer on the outskirts of Damascus on Nov. 5. (Mohammed Badra/EPA)

The UN, in a statement posted online on Nov. 16, said the Syrian civil war is behind the world's largest humanitarian crisis of the century, with an estimated 13.5 million people in the country in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. The figure includes six million children.

A dangerous selfie.

Douma has been subjected to a number of airstrikes reportedly carried out by forces working with the Assad regime, leaving much of the area in ruins.

Unexploded bombs like this one, partially buried in a road in Douma, are a constant hazard and a daily reminder of the years-long conflict. (Mohammed Badra/EPA)

The UN reports that last month the agency and its partners delivered food aid and drinking water to more than four million people in Syria.

A young Syrian buys corn from a street vendor on Nov. 5. (Mohammed Badra/EPA)