Sunday, February 26, 2012

'We've been buried alive': inside Homs' only bomb shelter



One of the few western journalists inside the besieged Syrian city tells of the terrible scenes as people shelter from the bombs

Javier Espinosa in Baba Amr
(Javier Espinosa is Middle East correspondent for El Mundo newspaper)
The Guardian, Friday 24 February 2012

"Firial Sabur was born five months ago. He doesn't yet know that he has already lost his father. Omar Sabur died on Wednesday after he was shot by a sniper. When Sabur's brother Abdala tried to rescue him, he too was shot dead. On Friday, the baby was dozing in his mother's arms, unaware of the chaotic scenes around him in the only bomb shelter in Baba Amr.

The word "shelter" is an exaggeration: close to a year ago, the shelter was a basement used for wedding parties....

In another room, Mohamed, a one-year old boy, cries inconsolably. He was hit in the forehead by a fragment from a shell. "Mother! Mother!" he wails, clinging to his milk bottle.

"Is he a terrorist?" his older brother asks, pointing to the infant.

All I can do is bow my head and carry on taking notes."

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