Mar 15, 2012

HOMS, (SANA) – The people of al-Nazhin, Karm al-Zaytoun, Ashira and Karm al-Loz neighborhoods of Homs related the horrors of the crimes and massacres committed by armed terrorist groups which wreaked havoc in the city.

A local from al-Nazhin said that the armed groups would open fire from every direction at people, and made holes in walls to move from one house to another, attacking the houses’ actual owners, adding that the terrorists belonged to several nationalities.

He said that these groups ran amok in the neighborhood and vandalized everything, and that they didn’t spare even schools and mosques.

Another man from the same neighborhood said that snipers were stations in the street he lived in, preventing people from leaving their homes for two months, targeting passersby and cars and anything that moved in the streets, adding that the terrorists also robbed houses, committed massacres, murders and kidnapping.

In turn, a woman said that the terrorists killed her son on the doorstep of their home as he was returning from school.

One of the locals from Karm al-Zaytoun said that the innocent victims of the massacre that took place in the neighborhood were among those who refused to be involved in the crimes of the armed terrorist groups, which killed anyone who objected to what they do.

He said that these groups mostly consisted of Libyans, Iraqis and Lebanese, and that they had no inhibitions.

Another local said that gunmen from Iraq, Libya and other countries came to Karm al-Zaytoun and laid siege on it, murdering many people and forcing others to flee, then they dug trenches and holes in houses’ walls and made makeshift barricades from sewage pipes.

In Ashira neighborhood, the locals said that gunmen had been assaulting them and that they didn’t feel safe until the army entered the area.

A woman from the neighborhood said that terrorists of unknown identities showed up and started terrorizing women and children who were too afraid to leave their homes.

In Karm al-Loz where terrorists massacred 15 people, the locals said that the terrorists were shooting at people in the streets and killing them, with some of the locals saying that they were practically besieged by the terrorists until the army freed them and provided them with food, drink and medicine.

H. Sabbagh