Report from a Syrian Rebel Base

The official authorities in Syria call them bandits and terrorists. Syrian civilians are either afraid of them or support them. When a RIA Novosti correspondent wanted to go to Homs to find the rebels, he was warned: “The FSA hates the Russians, they’ll probably kill you.”

Once a residential neighborhood of Homs, al-Khalidiya has been completely destroyed and now resembles Grozny in the early 2000’s.

Young Syrians armed with guns guard the road intersections. Few people venture out onto the streets, isolated gunshots can be heard constantly.

Occasionally small trucks carrying ordinary Syrians and their household belongings pass by – these are refugees fleeing after their homes have been destroyed.

The hospital suffered massive damage from artillery fire – the building caught fire and none of the windows have survived. A burnt portrait of Hafez Asad, father of the current president, hangs above the entrance. This is where the morgue is housed. It has been without electricity for some time now and can only be entered wearing a gas mask.

A fighter with a machine gun in one of the rooms pierced by shells. Next to the bed is a grenade launcher and cartridge belt. He uses gestures to explain that the building is being defended from here and allows us to take some photographs.

Through the holes in the wall the correspondent was unable to make out a single house that was still intact.

Namaz.

Residents of the Syrian city of Homs.

Graffiti depicting refugees with a caption written in Arabic and English: “We’ll be back”.