SYRIA: Amateur video from the city of Homs shows Free Syria Army volunteers, who have taken up arm against the government forces, preparing to fight

Record ID: 280193

  • Title: SYRIA: Amateur video from the city of Homs shows Free Syria Army volunteers, who have taken up arm against the government forces, preparing to fight
  • Date: 3rd February 2012
  • Summary: MORE SANDBAGGED POSITION ON STREET CORNER (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) YOUNG BOY WHOSE FATHER WAS KILLED, SHOWING HANDS/VIEW OF STREET SAYING: ''They called us and said we have Abdel Fattal Hosam. We went to the government hospital and he had marks of torture on his face, there were no gunshot wounds, he was just tortured. We found him dead. He was in a coma for five days and th
  • Embargoed: 18th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEMBJM5VQCNTPWKC9EIZ92BOZP
  • Story Text: In the western Syrian city of Homs, the rebels fighting government forces are not just army defectors, an amateur video obtained by Reuters on Thursday (February 2) showed.
    Many are residents who say they volunteered to join the rebel Free Syria Army recently because of what they witnessed during a heavy crackdown by government forces to stem dissent against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
    Hundreds have died in Homs since protests against Assad began in March. Thousands have died across the country. The government says it is fighting ''armed gangs'' and ''terrorists.'' Homs resident Bilal and others say the protests began peacefully in March but many decided to take up arms when the crackdown intensified.
    Bilal is from the Old Quarter of Homs that includes the neighbourhoods of Safsaf, Bab Sbaa, Bab Dreib and Bustan al-Diwan.
    He says it is a historic neighbourhood whose residents are poor and are suffering now from lack of food and basic needs.
    Bilal shows what he says are left-over ammunitions used by the government forces gathered from one neighbourhood in Homs.
    ''This is the nail bomb, this is a rocket fired from a BRDM tank. The shell splits open in half, it's larger than this and it splits and emits nails that spread around. This is the nail bomb, they shell the neighbourhoods with this,'' he says, showing other left-over shells and the caps of bullets he said were used by snipers at government checkpoints nearby.
    The amateur video showed the narrow streets of Homs littered with garbage.
    There is graffiti on the wall with the writings of both and pro and anti-Assad forces.
    The city looks deserted -- with only a few residents walking or riding on their bicycles.
    On some street corners, there were sandbagged positions of the Free Syria Army -- a loose entity that includes defectors and volunteers who have decided to fight Assad's forces with arms.
    One school building bore pock marks and the flag of the pre-Baath Party era that preceded the Assad rule.
    It is now used by the protesters as the flag of Syria.
    ''There is a checkpoint close by, it's called the Bustan al-Diwan checkpoint and another one called the Qalaa, which is the most dangerous. On the Qalaa checkpoint, there are snipers, they are always passing time in this street, shooting on everything that passes, they hunt them, they think that human beings are animals or birds that they can hunt on a daily basis,'' Bilal said as he walked around the streets of Homs pointing to the damage to residential buildings and a position of the Free Army.
    Bilal said it is a cat-and-mouse game in Homs, adding that the situation on the ground can change swiftly.
    ''We put up this buffer so that in case there is a raid or attack by security to hamper them so we can have the activists escape,'' Bilal said.
    The amateur video showed Bilal and other rebels who openly showed their faces and gave their names. Many Syrians opposed to Assad decline to identify themselves for fear of reprisals or apprehension by the security forces.
    One resident who declined to show his face was a boy who says his father had been killed during torture in detention.
    ''They called us and said we have Abdel Fattal Hosam. We went to the government hospital and he had marks of torture on his face, there were no gunshot wounds, he was just tortured. We found him dead. He was in a coma for five days and then died. They called us from the hospital and told us to come and get him. He had a taxi as well. They burned the taxi,'' said the boy.
    Not far away, Bilal Oudeh and Jassem Afar were sipping coffee under a sandbagged post, with their rifles near them.
    ''I am Bilal Oudeh and the brother is Jassem Afar. They kept talking about us, calling us terrorists on Dunya TV and that was when we were going out in peaceful protests, and now we have volunteered in the Free Army in the Farouk Brigade. My brother died in peaceful protests, my four cousins too. Each time we walk in the neighbourhood, they shoot at us, so we volunteered in the Free Army when they opened up for volunteers sometime ago,'' he said referring to a pro-Assad private television channel Afar said the Shabeeha (pro-Assad armed gangs) were killing children.
    ''We set this buffer up because the security forces are attacking us and the Shabeeha are murdering children in their homes. I volunteer because of the oppression and the destruction. We saw how they were shelling homes and targeting people and torturing them," he said.
    ''We are sending a message to Bashar and to Maher and their accomplices, we are going to triumph despite you, whether you like it or not. And like I and others have volunteered in the free army, the entire Syrian people is going to volunteer and no one is going to liberate this except us and this rifle,'' Oudeh added.
    Recent violence in Syria has killed at least 5,000 people, and activists say Assad's forces have stepped up operations around the country after appearing to crush rebels who brought the fight to the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.
    Syria's ally, Russia, has warned it would veto any U.N. resolution in Syria it finds unacceptable, making clear it wanted to prevent Libyan-style intervention over Assad's violent crackdown on 11 months mass protests and armed insurrection.
    END
  • 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
Register