Syria blog: ‘We have no-one but God – everyone has abandoned us’

By ELIZABETH KENNEDY and DOMINIC EVANS
Published on Tuesday 7 February 2012 00:00

SUCH is the violence directed against the central Syrian city of Homs by the regime, some opposition members have started calling it “the capital of the Syrian revolution”.

Yesterday, regime forces shelled a medical clinic and residential areas in the city, killing a reported 40 people on the third day of a relentless assault. Television footage showed smoke rising from buildings, with explosions echoing in the background.

“This is the most violent bombardment in recent days,” said one activist in Syria who was in touch with Homs residents.

Another activist said government troops were using multiple rocket launchers – a weapon designed for open warfare, not anti-insurgent street fighting. Despite the artillery onslaught, several districts in Homs, such as Baba Amro, remain under the control of rebels.

Activists also reported a military offensive yesterday using tanks and armoured vehicles against the mountain town of Zabadani, just west of the capital Damascus.

The Homs offensive began on Saturday, the same day Syria’s allies in Russia and China vetoed the Arab-backed resolution aimed at trying to end the crackdown on dissent. That day, military forces killed up to 200 people in Homs – the highest death toll reported for a single day in the uprising – according to several activist groups. There was no way to independently confirm the toll.

Damascus denies firing on houses and says images of dead bodies on the internet have been staged. State media said yesterday that “armed terrorist groups” were firing mortars in the city, setting fire to tyres and blowing up empty buildings to give the impression that Homs was being attacked.

The latest assault in Homs appeared to be widely targeted, with explosions in Khalidiya, Baba Amro, Bayada and Bab Dreib, the activists said.

“They want to drive the Free Syrian Army out,” said Baba Amro resident Hussein Nader referring to the force of army deserters and rebels who have held parts of Homs for months. “Rockets are falling seconds apart on the same target.”

Another resident, Omar Shakir, said activists had obtained information that the shelling would continue until Thursday, when troops were expected to move in. “We have no-one but God – everybody abandoned us,” he said.

Syria has blocked access to trouble spots in the country and prevented independent reporting, making it nearly impossible to verify accounts from either side.

Already, more than 5,400 people have been killed since the uprising began in March, the UN said in January. Hundreds more are believe to have been killed since then, but the UN says it is impossible to cross-check the figures.

Syrian army defectors yesterday announced they were organising a “Higher Revolutionary Council” to supercede the Free Syrian Army as the main armed force battling Bashar al-Assad’s rule. The new body would be led by General Ahmed al-Sheikh, the highest-ranking officer to defect to Turkey from government forces.

In addition, a local wing of the FSA in Zabadani warned it would start attacking “sensitive and strategic [targets] of the regime” unless the army pulled back from the town.

Syria has seen one of the bloodiest crackdowns since the wave of Arab uprisings began more than a year ago. Deaths in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen have numbered in the hundreds. Libya’s toll is unknown and probably higher than Syria’s, but the conflict differed there: Early on it became an outright civil war between two armed sides.

Syria, in contrast, has developed into a murderous grind – although many fear it is developing into a civil war.

Mr Assad appears to have the loyalty of most of the armed forces, which in the past months have moved from city to city to put down uprisings.

In each place, however, protests have resumed and army defectors and others have taken up arms to fight back, adding to the bloodshed.