A Free Syrian Army member inside a house in the city of Aleppo yesterday.
BEIRUT: An army assault on Homs in central Syria entered its 13th day yesterday, as the holy month of Ramadan brought no relief to people in rebel areas, activists said.
“There isn’t a minute that goes by that we do not hear the sound of a rocket or a shell hit the besieged (rebel-held) neighbourhoods, especially Khaldiyeh and Bab Hud,” said Homs-based activist Yazan.
Meanwhile, Russia’s UN envoy yesterday sharply criticised what he described as Western nations’ “small propaganda storm in a glass of water” regarding allegations that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own people.
Districts in central Homs, dubbed “the capital of the revolution” by activists, have been under army siege for more than a year.
Speaking to AFP via the Internet on the second day of fasting, Yazan said that “even before Ramadan, we were down to one meal a day”.
Throughout the blockade, rights groups have warned of critical humanitarian conditions in rebel areas of the city, which come under daily shelling and frequent aerial bombardment.
The United Nations has said that some 2,500 civilians are trapped in the besieged neighbourhoods, and activists say there is no way out.
“The situation now is especially difficult for families who were forced to flee their homes because of the intense shelling” that accompanied the latest assault, said Yazan.
For about six months, people living in the besieged neighbourhoods of Syria’s third city have relied on firewood or diesel fuel for cooking.
“We eat rice and bulgur to break our fast in the evening, and thyme and olives before daybreak,” said Yazan.
“This is our second Ramadan under siege.”
During Ramadan, Muslims the world over gather with family over festive meals after sunset when they can break the dawn to dusk fast.
In besieged Homs, however, “there is no electricity, no generators and no water wells” any more, said Yazan.
Lebanon’s Shia Hezbollah movement is taking part in the regime’s military assault on Homs, says the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Despite the difficulties and “the military imbalance, we plan on resisting here”, said Yazan.
The army meanwhile renewed its bid to storm the rebel areas from an entrance point near the 11th century Khaled Bin Walid mosque, which has itself been hit by shells, said the Syrian Revolution General
Commission.
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