"Welcome to Idlib province!" the Syrian governor proclaims, seated in a converted classroom in Hama city some 90 kilometers (55 miles) from his real office, held by rebels since 2015.
With opposition fighters led by Syria's former al-Qaida affiliate in control of the province he was appointed to lead last year, Ali Jassem instead works from the second floor of a Hama school.
And he's not alone.
One floor up is Raqa governor Abed Khaled al-Hamud, 53, seated behind a desk under a photo of President Bashar Assad, flanked by the flags of Syria and the ruling Baath party.
His province is even further away than neighboring Idlib, and its provincial capital is still firmly in the grip of the Islamic State group.