SYRIA: Video footage obtained by Reuters appears to show widespread destruction of a neighbourhood in the Syrian city of Homs

Record ID: 280143

  • Title: SYRIA: Video footage obtained by Reuters appears to show widespread destruction of a neighbourhood in the Syrian city of Homs
  • Date: 3rd January 2012
  • Summary: SLATE INFORMATION
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4X7C60R39NCXKZRAE8R48GTXG
  • Story Text: Amateur footage obtained by Reuters on Monday (January 2) appeared to show widespread destruction of a neighbourhood in the restive Syrian city of Homs, which has become a symbol of resistance in the nine month old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
    The video showed rows of bullet-ridden walls and burnt houses in the Bayaddah district. As the camera alighted on a wrecked vehicle, a man, who would not reveal his identity, said Syrian security forces had destroyed the car which the man and his friends were trying to repair.
    "We were working on this car and earning money and now their armoured vehicle destroyed it," he said. The unseen man then turned his camera lens on broken electricity cables, which he said had been cut by the security forces despite locals' tireless efforts to fix the powerlines. It was the same with water, he said: "We don't have water; also the bread delivery, when it comes, the checkpoint ask them to leave. If we don't have a bakery here we will starve."
    The most shocking footage was purportedly filmed in a makeshift hospital staffed by volunteers where a man and his son were being treated for gunshot wounds. The pair had apparently been shot, according to the anonymous filmmaker, because the man had parked next to the checkpoint.
    The videoshowing a dead boy, aged between ten and 12, who appeared to have been killed by single gunshot wound to the chest.
    The U.N. human rights chief put the death toll from nine months of protest against President Bashar al-Assad at 5,000, many of them in Homs.
    Homs has become the centre of resistance to months of repression by the army and security forces of President Assad. The Syrian leader insists there is no shoot-to-kill policy.
    Last week Arab observers visited many districts of Homs. The observer mission has stirred controversy for its lack of numbers and comments by its Sudanese leader, General Mohammed al-Dabi, suggesting he was reassured by first impressions of Homs.
    In a video shown on Al Arabiya television, a monitor in the embattled neighbourhood of Bab Amro in Homs appealed to the authorities by telephone to stop firing there.
  • Copyright Holder: AMATEUR VIDEO (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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