As President Bashar al-Assad clings to power, Syria has gone from a place of small demonstrations one year ago to a country collapsing from within.

The UN estimates that almost 9,000 people have been killed since March 2011, mostly in the central province of Homs.

Tens of thousands others are said to have fled to neighbouring countries, more others have been internally displaced in Syria.

On the economic front, the currency is crashing, the industry is grinding to a halt, and tourism is non-existent.

The conflict has, moreover, led to the collapse of infrastructure that will take years to rebuild.

Al Jazeera’s Lawrence Lee reports.