Surviving a Syrian Seige

(0:04) These are members of the free Syrian Army, in an Assault on the Regular Syrian Army in early August, near the town of Qusayr in Homs province.

(0:18) The men know they haven’t got long to act before they may be targeted by mortar or tank fire, so they carefully probe the abandoned houses for good vantage points to make their shots count. Without heavy weaponry, these kind of hit and run guerrilla tactics are their best way to keep the Syrian Army at bay between larger operations.

(0:37) Their weapons don’t always work, as happened to their commander, Abu Arab, and as the crackle of return gunfire intensifies from the army checkpoint only a couple of hundred metres away, they decide it’s time to retreat. “come, come, come, from here” one of the guerillas says, anxious to avoid the enemy’s line of sight.

(1:02) At their vehicle, they’re already discussing where else to attack, perhaps near the river this guerilla suggests.

(1:11) Back in town there is evident destruction from relentless shelling and fierce battles that took place to rid the town of army positions.

(1:22) SOUNDBITE: ABU ARAB: Here is where the soldiers of Assad used to be, there also there used to be soldiers, across the street where the church used to be. The church used to be beautiful, god willing we will keep it as it used to be. And there is our Mosque, we don’t aggress, we’re being aggressed. And may god help us.

(1:44) Months of daily shelling have taken their toll, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths in this small town alone.

(1:51) The centre of Qusayr is like a ghost town, the streets, almost entirely empty, (traffic virtually non-existent.) The once busy market centre totally abandoned and all the shops closed. A small boy makes his way through the rubble, only just out of the line of site of snipers. Some of the buildings completely destroyed.

(2:10) Only a few months ago Qusayr was a busy town with a population of about 50,000, as these images from February show.

(2:18) When Homs was initially taken by the regular army, Qusayr became a fall back for the FSA, and has been a strong hold for them ever since – both defectors and civilians who took to arms.

(2:30) They had to fight hard for the town, against both the regular army and government backed militias known as Shabiha.

(2:38) During this gun battle the FSA were fighting a Christian family aligned with and supported by the army who had opened fire on a funeral procession injuring several people.

(2:49) In those days the army still had a presence in the imposing town hall building, from where snipers had a free range over the town.

(2:56) But the rebels victory came at a price, every time they launched an assault the town was indiscriminately shelled in revenge, leading the vast majority of civilians to flee.

(3:08) Back to August and Qusayr has been mostly in Rebel hands for months and the once imposing town hall stands in ruins . . . taken by the FSA’s Farouq brigade and then reduced to rubble.­­

(3:19) This is Abu Sous, commander of the Qusayr Al Farouq Brigade, who gives some of the reasons why they’re fighting.

(3:26) SOUNDBITE: ABU SOUS: From the moment we were born and start growing up we realised there is oppression in this country. As we used to hear from our fathers this regime came to us through oppression and through an authoritarian system and no one was happy with this hegemony imposed on us.

(3:42) He leads us to a secret location were they keep some of the prisoners whom they captured from the town hall.

(3:49) SOUNDBITE: ABU SOUS: This is Kanjo, he’s sneaky, he was a sniper at the town hall, shooting one bullet at a time. Look at how we’re treating them, young guys with dignity and we know they understand God will take care of them.

(4:02) Although he jokes with them, and asks after their health, they’re visibly scared. Another 19 prisoners were taken from the town hall and their whereabouts is never made clear.

(4:14) SOUNDBITE: PRISONER: We were told not to allow anybody to get closer than three or four hundred metres. It was not allowed and if we saw anybody approaching we killed them. Anybody who crosses this distance we shot at.

(4:28) Perhaps unsurprisingly the rebels are suspicious of them

(4:32) SOUNDBITE: HUSSEIN, MEDIA ACTIVIST: They are working with some work for the Free Army but not fighting with the Free Army because we can not trust them, we will not trust them of course.

(4:46) Abu Sous asks them, “do they want Bashar?” and they obediently reply, “certainly not”, “who is your god?” he says, “Allah is our god”, and “Who would you sacrifice your soul for?” and they reply Syria accompanied by uncomfortable laughter.

(5:03) SOUNDBITE: ABU SOUS: The army is exhausted and divided, we see it as finished, everyday we see defections. At the same time we are becoming closer to our religion, and the longer the revolution lasts the stronger we become.

(5:16) At another secret location, Abu Sous shows off two tanks they’ve captured, hidden under the cover of trees. This is our lover, she’s ours now, he says of the tank and explains they partly used it to destroy the town hall.

(5:33) At a luxury villa that they’ve appropriated, Sous is surrounded by some of the 1000 fighters that he claims for his brigade. But don’t let the surroundings fool you, 80 of his men have already been killed in combat, a fatality rate that would be unacceptable for a regular standing army.

(5:52) “Do you want Bashar” he calls and his men reply “Certainly not”, “do you want Arour” and they reply “Yes by God”. Arour is an exiled Syrian Sheikh, who’s called for all the Alawites, that is those from President Assad’s religious sect, to be chopped up and fed to dogs.

(6:11) In spite of the brigades Islamic ethos, some of the men sport tattoos. This man’s read “Oh Mother, your Mercy”

(6:19) And Abou Sous is happy with the way events are turning

(6:24) SOUNDBITE: ABU SOUS: At the moment we are living a glorious time, because we feel like we have our dignity and are achieving something that we never did before. This dignity has brought people together. And this is the whole story. I hope it will always stay a revolution.

(6:40) As the sun sets, Abu Sous shows some of the locations of former army checkpoints that his men have taken.

(6:47) SOUNDBITE: HUSSEIN: There was a checkpoint here and the Free Army attacked it and destroyed seven tanks and captured two tanks and the destroyed tanks are covered now for the flights. 

(7:02) It may have been impressive to take these tanks with only small arms, but the army has a further 50 stationed around Qusayr plus artillery.

(7:10) And that’s most worrying for the civilians, like this young girl the victim of a mortar blast, she didn’t pull through. And she’s one of many. (As the doctor explains she one of many)

(7:19) SOUNDBITE: DR QASSIM: We today have 15 wounded - it is everyday. This old man of 73 years, is he from a terrorist group as the regime says everyday? He’s an old man, he’s a good man, he’s a farmer.

(7:39) This filed hospital is set up in a residential house. The town’s main hospital was taken over by the army and now houses soldiers and snipers. After artillery attacks, a steady stream of civilian casualties arrive at the hospital. Their relatives distraught at the senseless loss of their loved ones. This woman screams “May God take you away Bashar”.

(8:02) SOUNDBITE: Dr QASSIM: We want help from Arabs, from Muslims, from the whole world, but nobody wants to help us, Allah will help us and we will win very soon.

(8:16) But very often, prayer is the only thing left for the medical staff to do. There’s no trained surgeon, some of the operations even carried out by nurses and there’s nothing they can do for severe head injuries.

(8:28) Women and children alike among the casualties. At times the fighting is so close to the hospital that the windows are blown in from bomb blasts and the bullets can be heard whizzing by the windows.

(8:41) This eight-year-old girl killed by a mortar explosion. Her mother collapses when she hears the news.

(8:48) Outside a man weeps, as his father lies dying inside. His body peppered with shrapnel, there is little they can do for him. “Wahed Allah” “One God” they say by way of reassuring the man and his son. But it’s only a matter of minutes before his body is carried out.

(9:08) SOUNDBITE: Dr QASSIM: We can’t do anything in this hospital, we can not send the patient to another city or another country because all the roads are closed by the Syrian army. Why must this patient die? Because we haven’t got specialists, medicine, drugs or machines for x-ray.

(9:32) And so in this town as others, the death toll mounts. Four on this day . . . over 400 during the course of a year in this one small town alone. The majority of them innocent civilians.

(9:46) And the urge for revenge intensifies.

(9:50) SOUNDBITE: OLD LADY AT FUNERAL: May God send somebody to shoot the man who shot you within a couple of days, (says the dead man’s sister)

(9:56) While relatives mourn, she curses President Assad.

(10:00) SOUNDBITE: OLD LADY AT FUNERAL: May god burn your mother’s heart oh Bashar, burn you, your kind and the rest of your family.

(10:10) As the dust settles, the grief mounts at this make shift graveyard, another gravestone to be written.

(10:17) Meanwhile another innocent man killed. His only crime, to have walked the streets of the town he lives in.

(10:24) The media activist records his name, the date, place and cause of death  “Mohammad Ayush, shot from a sniper with a bullet in the heart” he records.