A Syrian Village Surrounded By Civil War
Before Syria's civil war, Al Houleh was a small, quiet farming region to the north of Homs. But a massacre last year, blamed on government loyalists, left several dozen villagers dead.
Since then, the Al Houleh region has become rebel-held territory, and government troops are choking it. Trapped in the siege are several hundred civilians, all of them related to the rebels.
As I spoke inside a home with some women and children from the village of Taldo, a fighter jet pierced the sky. The reaction was a contrast to what you'd see in Damascus where hardly anyone looks up when he hears a sonic boom.
But in Taldo, within an instant everyone went from gregarious to panic-stricken. I was no exception.
"Sshhh," said Um Ahmad when I asked if we should perhaps move to the basement for shelter.
"We have to listen closely," she said. "If the plane starts to get louder like it's descending, then it means he's about to bomb us."
Frequent Airstrikes
The bombs can fall anywhere at anytime, and kill anyone. And they do.
In the past couple of weeks, there was the 18-year-old who was washing up at home as he planned to head over to the mosque for Friday prayer. A shell fell on his home and killed him instantly.
There was the middle-aged father of six who was smuggling bags of wheat flour across Houleh Lake.
"He's still in the lake," Um Ahmad said. His body has not yet been found.
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