Syrians return to Homs, 'capital of the revolution'

  • News
  • February 18, 2025

Her husband spends his days looking for a job, she said, while they hope humanitarian workers begin distributing aid to help the family survive.

The siege of Homs lasted two years and killed around 2,200 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

During the siege, thousands of civilians and rebels were left with nothing to eat but dried foods and grass.

In May 2014, under an evacuation deal negotiated with the former government, most of those trapped in the siege were evacuated, and two years later, Assad seized the last rebel district of Waer.

“We were besieged… without food or water, under air raids, and barrel bombings,” before being evacuated to the rebel-held north, Turki said.

‘Precious soil of Homs’

AFP journalists saw dozens of families returning to Homs from northern Syria, many of them tearful as they stepped out of the buses organised by local activists.

Among them was Adnan Abu al-Ezz, 50, whose son was wounded by shelling during the siege and who later died because soldiers at a checkpoint barred him from taking him to hospital.

“They refused to let me pass, they were mocking me,” he said with tears in his eyes.

“I knew my house was nearly destroyed, but I came back to the precious soil of Homs,” he said.

While protests and fighting spread across Syria over the course of the 13-year war, Homs’s story of rebellion holds profound symbolism for the demonstrators.

It was there that Abdel Basset al-Sarout, a football goalkeeper in the national youth team, joined the protests and eventually took up arms.

Related Posts

  • February 25, 2025
  • 67 views
Transgender religious order gets rare approval at India Hindu festival

Prayagraj (India) (AFP) – Transgender activists often shunned by society say they have found rare acceptance at India’s Hindu Kumbh Mela festival by giving blessings to pilgrims attending the world’s largest religious gathering.

  • February 25, 2025
  • 65 views
Stuck in eternal drought, UAE turns to AI to make it rain

Abu Dhabi (AFP) – In the marbled halls of a luxury hotel, leading experts are discussing a new approach to an age-old problem: how to make it rain in the UAE, the wealthy Gulf state that lies in one of the world’s biggest deserts.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You Missed

Transgender religious order gets rare approval at India Hindu festival

  • February 25, 2025
  • 67 views
Transgender religious order gets rare approval at India Hindu festival

Stuck in eternal drought, UAE turns to AI to make it rain

  • February 25, 2025
  • 65 views
Stuck in eternal drought, UAE turns to AI to make it rain

Trump's chip tariff threats raise stakes for Taiwan

  • February 25, 2025
  • 67 views
Trump's chip tariff threats raise stakes for Taiwan

Galatasaray accuse Mourinho of 'racist statements' after derby

  • February 25, 2025
  • 81 views
Galatasaray accuse Mourinho of 'racist statements' after derby

Fears of US public health crises grow amid falling vaccination rates

  • February 25, 2025
  • 78 views
Fears of US public health crises grow amid falling vaccination rates

Latin American classics get the streaming treatment

  • February 25, 2025
  • 65 views
Latin American classics get the streaming treatment