(Zaman Al Wasl)- It has been eight years since one of the most gruesome massacres committed against tens of unarmed civilians in the town of Al-Houla, in central Homs province.
Residents of Al-Houla like their fellow revolutionary Syrians acrossout the country went to streets to demand dignity and freedom on May 25, 2012. Such a demand pushed pro-regime militants, known as Shabiha, to storm the town and to brutally kill 113 civilians, including 56 women and 30 children.
With no warning or provocation, regime forces soon opened fire on the demonstrators, leaving four dead.
Some of them were slaughtered with bayonets, knives and machetes, some with explosive bullets at close range. Those who survived witnessed first-hand the atrocities and cruelty of a regime that does not know the meaning of mercy and humanity.
In Detailes
According to one of the eye-witnesses, activist Ahmed Al-Khidr, regime forces began bombing an area relatively far from the center of Al-Houla, in what appeared to be a covering fire and maneuver, with dozens of Shabiha infiltrating from the dam and from the water slipped from the side of the dam and from the General Directorate of Water Supply.
The residents of the town did not know what happened on the outskirts and believed that it was a routine search, so not to be arrested, the young men went into hiding and some escaped towards the river. A half hour later, however, they discovered the massacre that had occurred around 5;30 p.m. – according to a police officer from Al-Houla, the area had been under shelling from the Military Academy in Homs and a close military point.
The source said that the bombing was concentrated on the northern neighborhood and the generator, effectively cutting off the electricity. The bodies of the dead were iced and placed in Taldou and Kafr Laha mosques, to be buried the next day with the presence of U.N. observers.
The Syrian tragedy began nine years ago in Homs and Daraa before spreading throughout the country. Since then more than 400,000 people have been killed and seven million people have left their shattered homeland.
Zaman Al Wasl
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