Chapter Seven: Is there anybody out there?

February 6th, I woke up early because of the sounds of the now usual bombing, shelling, and shooting.
I picked up my cellphone but it didn't work. I tried my over phone, it didn't work either. I checked my dad's phone which works on a different network, still nothing.
My mom told me that the land line is dead as well. Okay' Something's up.

A few hours later, the sounds of shelling and shooting were getting closer and closer.

Many people I know left their houses in Inshaat and Hamra and went someplace else. At 11:30 AM, the phone rang, and that's how I knew that the land line is back working, but the cellphones were still dead.

I went out and all stores were closed, all streets were empty, and people were hiding. I didn't see or hear an ambulance anywhere.

1 PM, the shelling sounds were so clear I was actually worried that our house might get hit, so we evacuated the rooms with a street view.

3 PM: News from Inshaat, Assad's forces broke into the evacuated houses and occupied them including the houses of the people I know. Some buildings near Qibaa mosque have been hit badly.

6 PM: After calling the occupied house's phone several times (and getting a busy signal which means the security forces' members were making phone calls) they actually picked up and talked to us. The owner of the house asked them: "How are things?" the speaking soldier replied with: "Shitty".

If people didn't leave their homes, we could've read some horrifying numbers of casualties from Baba Amr and Inshaat.

The rest of the night was horrible, very close shooting and shelling, and our house was shaking badly especially after 3 AM.

February 7th, still no cellphones or internet, add to that, no electricity. Lavrov, the head of the Russian diplomacy, is in Damascus while Homs is being attacked viciously with.. Russian weapons.

I left the house and walked in the neighborhood after things started to quiet down a bit, and I saw a demonstration happening. It was so cold, so dangerous, yet the demo continued.
How brave are those young men I saw.

The owner of the occupied house made some calls trying to get the soldiers and security forces out of his house, but the answer was: "These aren't soldiers or security forces, these are terrorists. Syrian soldiers and security forces would never occupy a house".
The owner replied with: "I am 100% sure that they are security forces and I want them out".

After some more calls, they told him to talk to a man in charge of things like this in Homs, but that man said that he isn't going to leave his house and go help with this situation as he's afraid of driving in Inshaat.

4 PM: The shelling and shooting sounds has stopped, and a second demo was in the making.

6 PM: A third demo. Wow. Too bad there is no internet connection to go live on TV.

6:30 PM: News from the owner of the occupied house owner: Dunia TV is in Inshaat, music is being played, and many strangers showed up and started dancing in front of the occupied houses and thanking the military for "freeing the area from the terrorists".

I called people who live in that area and they told me they don't know anyone of the dancing people or how they got there. So now the mystery of the people thanking the military on Dunia TV finally made sense.
They occupy the area after the people leave to save their lives, then the security forces tell Dunia TV which brings the Pro Assad people to do this charade.

6:44 PM: My friend called me from another part of Inshaat. He said that they had no electricity all day today, and that they couldn't leave the house for six days. They're running low on food and supplies but they can manage.
I told him the news that he missed about the Arab Gulf countries shutting down their embassies in Syria and kicking the Syrian ambassadors out, and that Turkey has a plan to help with Syria, and finally that Assad told Lavrov about the new constitution that his people write, and that's when my friend interrupted me laughing and he said: "Who cares?". True. Who cares indeed.

February 8th, waking up to the shelling and shooting sounds has become normal by now, and these sounds didn't stop until noon. I went out to buy some bread but I couldn't find any.

On my way home, I joined a demonstration near my house, and I think I was the oldest one in it, as most of the protestors were 16-22. It ended peacefully as the security forces had their hands full in other neighborhoods like Baba Amr and Inshaat.
Still no internet or cellphones. Food shortage kicks in.

9 PM: News from Inshaat that Assad forces evacuated many of the houses they occupied two days ago, someone visited the house I previously talked about and was too shocked to describe what he saw. He said that they took everything light or expensive and ruined what's left. He said he can't put words into what he saw but that it was horrible. I will try to go tomorrow and check it myself, if I can.

The rest of the night was somewhat quiet in my neighborhood, but the shelling and shooting continued in many other places.
There's nothing I can do to help. That fact is eating me up inside.

February 9th, I woke up to the sounds of the daily shelling, bombing, and shooting. When will this end? I saw that trucks of food (Bread, vegetables, fruits, eggs..) have arrived to the stores in my area, so I went out with my father to buy some since we didn't have much left. I made a small tour around Hamra, Ghouta, and Malaab, and I saw many people heading to the opened stores to buy groceries like I was.

The stores were almost empty and closed before 2 PM. I couldn't find many things I needed like meat, chicken, rice, etc. I however got potatoes and eggs. Better than nothing. One thought came to my mind and stuck there: Many of my friends and relatives can't get any type of food.

I called a friend in Inshaat and he told me that electricity was still off for the third day in a raw, and that they have no vegetables or bread left. He tried to go out to find some food but he found a missile launcher within 100 meters of his place, so he went back without getting anything. His neighbors however had some extra bread which they shared. Good people still exist everywhere, and that's how we're surviving.

On my way home, I heard a demo going, but I couldn't join since I had a handful of stuff, so I went home and stayed there. The cellphone networks were still down, along with any kind of internet connection. I tried Dial Up, ADSL, 3G, and GPRS.

Nothing is working for the fourth day, yet news can be carried out since land lines were working in many areas, but the only news I heard were bad news. More than 100 were killed in my city and it's only 6 PM. Tomorrow's Friday. If there were demos in Homs, that can only mean one thing: Bashar Assad failed, again. In the past week, he has tried everything he's got.

No connection, no electricity, no food, no services, and an unbelievably vicious attack on the city. He killed hundreds a day, he used tanks, missiles, machine guns, and bombs.
He's got nothing else to do. If a big demo happens tomorrow, Assad should declare his defeat and hang himself. He would do so if he had even one bit of decency in him, but we all know by now that he doesn't have that. Let's wait for tomorrow and see what's gonna happen in my city, or shall I say, in what's left of my city.

February 10th - 14th: The sounds of shelling and shooting almost never stops, cellphones worked for an hour or so on the 13th, still no internet, and electricity comes and goes.
Two demonstrations joined in and made a decent one in Ghouta on February 10th despite the bad weather and the shelling sounds coming from not far away, but it ended at 1:35 PM after Assad forces opened fire on us. Later that night I saw four Red Crescent vehicles including an ambulance, along with a food truck possibly heading to Khaldieh.

News from Baba Amr is horrible as most buildings were hit by Assad forces and hundreds were killed, entire families.

Inshaat isn't better as Assad forces evacuated most of the houses there and started robbing them clean. After they took what they can, they burnt the rest. I still cannot go there to take videos or photos because Assad forces are still there. They live in the houses before they take and ruin everything.

Ghouta and Hamra are better, some shops are open and there is bread and food, and even electricity. The shelling gets close sometimes and the buildings start shaking, but nothing was hit directly as far as I know.
Assad forces however do shoot from time to time at cars and houses, leaving broken glass and some destruction on their way. Garbage has become a serious health issue as the garbage men didn't work in weeks and the garbage spread all over the streets and sidewalks. A group of young men did a very selfless and nice gesture on the 14th when they took care of the garbage in my neighborhood. They collected them all and took them someplace else.
Khaldieh is still under attack, but I couldn't get too close to it because of the security forces barriers.

February 15th, our revolution is 11 months old today, and the vicious attack on Homs continued on its 11th day. Idleb and Hama aren't much better, Zabadani as well. The regime is doing what he's done in Homs all over Syria.

A new constitution is ready and a plebiscite should take place in 11 days. How silly is this play they're acting? How are we supposed to go vote or even care about a new constitution when we can barely survive? Maybe my city and the cities in which the revolution ignited aren't a part of Syria anymore. God damn you Assad.

A huge black smoke cloud spread all over the sky of Homs today, for the third time since our movement began. The regime is wasting the diesel and gas which we, the people, desperately need. The prices of diesel and gas -when they're found- are through the roof.

A thought sneaked into my head as I'm typing. Why am I still typing? Will I get the chance to publish this? Will I get an internet connection any time soon? Will I survive till then?

February 16th, looks like we made it through the night. Last night was so horrid I honestly thought it was going to be my last.

There was a rain storm, and the explosion sounds got mixed with thunder and thunderbolts and I couldn't tell which is which for a while. I left my bed in panic after a very scary sound, but then I went back in. I realized that whatever will happen, will happen. No matter where I was. I went back in bed, closed my eyes, and prepared myself mentally that I won't survive that night. I wasn't afraid after that. The shelling continued all night and until noon, but the storm passed when morning came. We survived to live another day.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who is thinking this way in Homs.

The United Nations approved a resolution against the Syrian regime, 137 countries agreed, 12 voted against. Reading the names of the countries who voted against the resolution gave me endless pleasure. Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Venezuela, China, and other countries ruled by dictators, with the addition of Russia.
It's good to see Russia putting itself in this list, the list of shame, the list of dictatorships.

The Syrian regime has only 11 friends left in the world, and most of them if not all of them are made of assholes and dictators like Assad himself.
I said before that I wish to see a Southern America Spring, and an Asian Spring, the people of those 11 countries, and some more, should move soon and see the light of freedom. Freedom for all.

February 17th, the morning of this day was an extension to last night, an extra dose of shelling and pouring rain didn't stop a demo from happening. It obviously didn't last long and couldn't be streamed live since we still have no internet connection since the 6th.
I couldn't join this demo since I've got the flu and am staying in bed most of the time.

Electricity was cut off and back on a couple of times today, and still no cellphone coverage. I look back at the past two weeks and think, what the world prevented in Benghazi Libya is now happening in Homs Syria, and the world didn't do anything about it. Gaddafi moved his army to occupy the capital of the Libyan revolution but was stopped by the Security Council, they all worked before he reached Benghazi and saved thousands of lives there, but they let Assad's forces and heavy artillery arrive to Homs and destroy many neighborhoods in the city.
They say that things are different, the only thing that's different is the volume of oil. If Syria had enough oil, the world wouldn't just watch Syrians get killed. That's how I see it.

Going through the night, the shelling sounds decreased but thunder got louder, and around 9 PM, it started raining hailstones, the biggest ones I've ever seen, a while after came the freezing wind and snow, when midnight came I could barely hear any shooting coming from afar, I'm not sure if it stopped completely because I couldn't tell since thunder got so loud and frequent. I went out to the balcony and a snowstorm was getting closer.
After midnight, all I could hear or see outside was the snowstorm, it covered everything else, and snow kept coming and freezing wind as well.

Thunder was very scary, not that I get scared from it usually, but since we've been experiencing the sounds of shelling and bombing for months now and that became the only thing we think of when hearing such loud noises. I jumped off my bed a couple of times thinking we're being bombed or something.

Fear of thunder, add that to the list of things I should sue Bashar Assad over.
What a huge list this has become. It has everything, from genocide, destruction of cities, kidnapping, torture, stealing billions, to stuff like losing my phone's extra battery while running away from a security force vehicle after a demo and the lack of chicken in my fridge.

February 18th, freezing wind, rain and snow, shooting sounds from afar, no shelling in my neighborhood or anywhere near it since last night, my heart and prayers are with those who had to leave their homes in such weather, and there are many of them.

Bad news kept coming from Baba Amr and Inshaat. Baba Amr, or what's left of it, is still being bombed all day, every day. How can people who are still there survive is beyond me. God help them, God help us all.

I saw footage from Damascus earlier today, from Mazzeh highway to be exact, I recognized that area immediately as it's my favorite highway in Syria, so I called someone I know who lives in there, and he confirmed that thousands went in a big demo for the third day in a raw.
Finally, the rest of Damascus is joining in. Hello! Aleppo! Is there anybody out there?

February 19th, it's a quiet day in my neighborhood, people in the streets shopping. After what happened in Khaldieh earlier this month, we now are afraid of such quiet days cause they usually get followed by horrible ones. Still no internet or cellphone networks.

February 20th, I woke up at 6 AM, went to get some bread while hearing the noises from afar, shelling is back but it isn't very close to us, from Baba Amr and Inshaat I believe.
There were more than 120 men and women waiting in line to get bread, but that's not unusual anymore. I got some bread and went home, it was 8 AM. Yes, It took me an hour and a half to get some bread. Anyway, it's freezing cold and somewhat quiet around my neighborhood still, so I decided to take a tour around the city and check things out.

I dressed heavily, put my earphones on with some rock music, tried to forget the fact that Homs is filled with tanks and snipers, and started the tour.

I went to the old clock square, some stores were open and people were shopping there too, only basic stuff could be found. I stopped at a place where I found something interesting. Some old gadgets made their way back into today's market, stuff that my grandfather used to own and his father before him. What I found was the good old oil light thing.

You know the thing that has a long bulb and a glass oil container under it, with a wick that can be lit with a match to get light! I don't know what it's called but I know that I haven't seen one in more than 20 years. People are adjusting to the lack of electricity. Oh boy.

Of course, that area around the Old Clock's square is filled with security forces, many vehicles and sand bags, and even sand barrels. Some of the streets were closed with cement barriers. I continued my tour but didn't go towards Khaldieh, instead I went to Old Homs, Hamidyeh and Bustan Al Diwan, and things were quiet there too. I then went to Freedom Square which had security forces around it and I couldn't find any open store in that area at that hour.

I then went to Ghouta then Hamra were everything was quiet and no sign of security forces. I didn't go into Inshaat because I was warned that security forces were still all over it, they're still living in the houses they emptied and are still stealing and destroying everything they find. Baba Amr is far from me and the war there didn't stop since February 6th. I went home after this and since there was still no internet or cellphone networks working, I knew that the war on my city isn't over yet, and that this is just a temporary situation, and I was correct as when night came, everything changed. The shelling is back and the shooting as well.

Later that night, a bunch of Assad forces came to my neighborhood around 2 AM and started shooting randomly, and I assure you that the streets were empty. I was awake and saw the whole thing.
The neighborhood was dead quiet, the streets were completely empty and it was very cold and dark outside, that's when they came.
Their vehicle didn't make the loud explosion noises it usually does, they stopped in the middle of the street and started shooting in the air and into other streets, they stayed for a few minutes then left.

I continued my night like this never happened. I made a cup of tea and watched the news. It seems like I too am used to this situation. I didn:t see this one coming.

February 21st, this morning wasn't like the two mornings before it. Heavy shelling and massive explosions were happening every 15 seconds or so. The sounds were so heavy and recurrent like I've never witnessed before.

I went out and walked around but nothing was happening in my neighborhood and it was completely empty.
I went back to bed since it was cold but I didn't sleep because of the horrible sounds outside. I got up and saw the news, 24 were killed while I was in bed. When will this end?

I went out again, and I saw a paper on a wall, I read it and found out that it was an announcement of the death of three children.

I couldn't stop my tears when I saw this. Three children were killed at once. How long will this babies' killer remain president?

I went home and I was so depressed to do anything. I crawled back in bed and didn't do a thing for the rest of the day.

Night came and the unbelievable sounds started. I could hear the missiles being launched and hitting Baba Amr every couple of seconds. I called someone in Inshaat but could barely hear his voice because the shelling sounds were way too loud there. What a horrible night by all means.

106 were killed today in Syria and about half of them were in Homs.

February 22nd, I woke up at 5:30 AM to be first in line to get bread, but as I arrived to the bakery there were more than 25 people in front of me. I will try to get up at 5 AM tomorrow knowing that the bakery won't open until 7, but I would happily go two hours earlier and avoid the crowds and the fights when some jackass comes and doesn't stand in line, especially current and ex-soldiers who have privileges everywhere in Syria.
They could come anytime, not wait in line, and then take double the amount that is allowed for civilians. On my way to the bakery, I of course heard so many explosions coming from Baba Amr and other areas in the city.
I went back home and the shelling sounds didn't stop not for one minute. I decided to go visit a neighborhood I didn't visit in a while, Khaldieh.
It's not easy to get in without being spotted by Assad forces. I saw a couple of guys there and they sneaked me in. I walked around and saw the garbage in the streets, mountains of garbage. I then went to a park called Ello and found a couple of stores opened. I then sneaked back towards the old clock square which is always filled with Assad's security forces, then towards Freedom Square and Dablan.

No stores were opened there. Even banks were closed, and a friend told me that banks only open till noon now and that I was a couple of minutes late. I went to Kurnich Street, and while I was approaching a traffic light, I saw something from a far, it was just lying on the street, a man's dead body.
I didn't get any closer. The body was near a store called Al Baik chicken. I walked across the street and went into another street to avoid being spotted by the sniper who killed him.
Just moments later, hell broke loose from that spot. I went back a tad and looked from a far and saw a couple of unarmed civilians who tried to reach the body but were interrupted by a flood of gunshots coming from god knows where. They went back and weren't harmed and the dead body stayed there. I could tell that the body was a civilian's by the clothes the man was wearing, and there were no weapons anywhere near him, so he was just an unarmed civilian passing by when a bullet got him.
I've heard this story so many times before and it makes sense. I didn't see what happened, I am just assuming.

I headed home after that, and a friend came by. He said that he was stuck in his house in Inshaat for the past 19 days.
He went out today after they let him (They is for Assad's Security forces) and he was buying supplies and decided to come see me, and since there is no cellphone network working, he had to just show up. It was good seeing him.

Right after he left, and at exactly 2 PM, the explosion sounds increased dramatically. I was watching the news at the time, where I saw the news about the death of an American and French journalist in Baba Amr. They were in a house when missiles hit that building and killed them with a couple of Syrians. Three more journalists were injured as well, and all of them were from Europe.
They came to cover the news and ended up being the news. It's really sad when we lose brave people like these. RIP my friends.

2:45 PM, Assad forces came into my neighborhood and opened fire, I'm not sure if they were aiming for anything this time as there were people in the streets. I don't know if anybody got hit. They left after 10 minutes and everything quieted down.

February 23rd, after standing an hour and a half in the freezing cold weather, I got my bread and headed home, and before I arrived there I was interrupted by three security forces vehicles.
They stopped me and asked me what I was doing and where I'm heading, then they asked for my ID which I had in my wallet, but I told them I left it at home and told them that my house isn't far and they could come see it, but they told me to go and they drove away and I haven't seen those vehicles after this.

I got home and of course the shelling sounds were coming from three different areas in Homs, but the shooting nearby didn't start until around 11 AM.

At noon, a bunch of Assad security forces attacked my neighborhood and started shooting randomly and that's when all the stores closed down and the streets turned empty.
I watched the news and they said that communications got cut off Homs, and it sounded like they only were cut today while we didn't have any type of internet connection or cellphone network for eighteen days now, and the land lines can't make or receive international calls for four days.

Around 4 PM, another attack occurred but no one was hurt as far as I saw since the streets were already empty. Standing in the freezing weather earlier got to me and I had to spend the rest of the night in bed with serious stomachache.

February 24th: 5:30 in the morning, no electricity, no water, and of course no cellphones or internet. The electricity and water are back by 9 AM, and so is the shooting.

A bunch of Assad security forces' members came with a couple of vehicles and started shooting randomly in my neighborhood for a while then they moved on to another neighborhood.
About 90 minutes before the prayer, the shooting and explosion noises increased 60% than earlier that day, and they continued till after the prayer.
Many couldn't get out of their houses and therefore there was no demo where I live, but that didn't stop the security forces from continuing their shooting all around.

4 PM, I was waiting for what will the "Friends of Syria" meeting do in Tunisia, and that's when a larger group of security forces came back to my neighborhood and started shooting like maniacs at anything they see. People ran and hid behind walls but the shooting didn't stop until 4:30 PM.

Three minutes later I saw Red Cross vehicles going fast, which means there are casualties in my neighborhood today. God help those innocent people.

4:40 PM, I had to turn the TV's volume all the way up so I can hear what they're saying because the shooting outside is so close, loud, heavy, and continuous.

8:30 PM, Assad's security forces finally left the area after killing many people. Explosion noises from afar can still be heard, Jorat Al Shaiyah and Qarabis neighborhoods were targeted now.

11 PM, news about Assad's security forces evacuating those who didn't leave their houses earlier in some streets of Inshaat at gunpoint, only to rob the houses. They brought trucks with them and stole everything in the houses. They even frisked the owners and stole what they found on them before they let them go.

February 25th, many people confirmed to me that their IDs have been taken by security forces and they were told to collect them on Sunday from security forces stations. The only logic explanation for this is that they'll force those people to vote in favor of the new constitution so it can be approved in spite of the fact that we're against it.

Red Cross couldn't go into Baba Amr like they did on the 24th and the sounds of shelling from that area are back and are increasing every hour. The house of one of my friends in Inshaat got hit by a missile, they weren't harmed but most of the house was destroyed.

They evacuated it immediately leaving everything behind. Al Amin hospital was targeted with two missiles after Red Cross brought the injured from Baba Amr there the day before, but the hospital wasn't directly hit.
The first missile hit a space near the hospital which will be joined to it soon, and the other one hit a nearby furniture store. News talked about 107 casualties all over Syria.

February 26th. This is the day of the plebiscite for the new constitution. Most people decided to stay at home so the security forces won't force them to vote to approve it, and there were no voting points anywhere in the neighborhoods I know in Homs anyway.

The sounds of shelling on Baba Amr and Inshaat started early in the morning and increased quickly. I could hear an explosion every single second at times. I called a friend from Inshaat and I heard the sounds of three or four missiles being launched at once every few seconds.
Those who are still in Inshaat are stuck again and can't go out to buy food or anything else, as for me, I went out but didn't get close to any of the Assad's security forces' barriers. I found some open stores but they didn't have any fresh vegetables, fruit, or meat. I asked around and was told that the food trucks weren't allowed to enter my neighborhood today. It's okay though, because we're used to that by now. There is a serious gas shortage in my neighborhood now as the government didn't send any since January.

Some could get gas from other neighborhoods with good prices but the rest had to pay double or even triple the new price.

Someone I know paid 1200 SP for a gas tank instead of 425 SP. As for us, we have enough gas for another month or two.

4 PM, the sounds of shelling have become unbearable. It's unreal how frequent they've become. Shelling continued into the night but my neighborhood was quiet for the rest of the day.

February 27th, I woke up to no electricity, water, and of course still no cellphones or internet. Shelling sounds from afar are still going and nearby shooting every now and then. News from some of Homs's old neighborhoods like Hamidiyeh (where my family originally comes from) is not good at all.

Hamidiyeh is as I said one of Homs's oldest neighborhoods, and has the majority of the Christian community in Homs, as it has many churches and some of them are historical, and Muslims have been living in that neighborhood next to Christians for centuries. That neighborhood was freed a while back and people were having a good and safe life, until yesterday. Assad's forces attacked it yesterday and the attack continued today in a much worse way. They've been shelling and bombing that area all morning. I got confirmed news from my relatives there that many missiles have hit random targets, like meat shops and pharmacies.

Many evacuated that area since yesterday and no one can enter some parts of it as the shooting has been going on since early morning. News about a new horrible massacre from Baba Amr, more than 60 young men were slaughtered by security forces while trying to leave the area and their families have been kidnapped, and the shelling increased later that night. Why won't February end already!