Lest we forget

Today started like any other day in my sad city Homs. Gunfire and shelling sounds could be heard every now and then, but that didn't stop the people from going out to buy food and other basic things.

The streets in the safe neighborhoods turned into markets where sellers use the sidewalks to show their products, like vegetables, Hummus, bread, and sometimes shoes. But then again there are no real safe neighborhoods in Homs anymore. Mortar shells and gunshots can come out of nowhere to take lives.

As we were getting closer to nighttime, streets were empty and everyone went home, as we all know that night time is when the serious shelling takes place, and that's exactly what happened.

The shelling sounds were increasing as well as the gunfire in many areas in Homs. I made some calls and got confirmations about attacks in at least four different neighborhoods in Homs alone, and about other attacks on villages near Homs like Rastan, Kusair, and Houla.

Neighborhoods like Qusoor, Jorat Al Shayah and old Homs were attacked so many times before and more than 50% of each area was destroyed back in February and March, and the new attacks are destroying what's left. As for Houla, that village was being attacked with heavy artillery for 12 hours before that night and no news came from there during those 12 hours as no one could go inside or leave the village.

Shelling in Houla started slowing down but not in other area, and that helped some people get inside to check what happened, and that's when the reports started coming.

The first thing I hears was about a group of Pro-Assad thugs who came inside Houla after the shelling stopped and they killed families. We didn't get any numbers or facts at that time.

A while after we started getting some numbers and info, and that's when we realized how horrible the situation there was. The Syrian army was shelling that village for 12 hours as I said earlier, and they only stopped to let their thugs (Shabiha) enter the village and finish some families off. They went in with their guns and knives and gathered many families in some houses and started killing everyone like they were sheep. They killed men, women, and children. They used their guns, knives, and hands. It was a brutal, inhumane massacre.

13 kids were slaughtered, no 35, or 50. 90 people were murdered, no 113. They kept finding dead bodies. Some were killed from the shelling, and the rest were executed viciously including the children.

Images started coming, then videos. Dead innocent children's bodies stacked in a small room. Their bodies had wounds, and their blood was on the floor. What a horrible thing to see. This is the act of an animal, no human can do this. No human can kill children and stack their bodies like this. Oh the humanity has failed those poor children badly. How much did they suffer? How did they watch their parents getting slaughtered in front of them? How did they wait for the killer to come to them and slit their little throats or put a bullet in their stomach? I cannot even imagine this amount of cruelty.

More news kept on coming, and more horrible footage of those families. The activists called the UN observers but those were found asleep in their hotel and they said they weren't allowed to leave the hotel till morning. The children of Houla are on their own.

The UN envoy went to Houla the next morning and counted more than 100 dead bodies including more than 30 children. They confirmed everything. It all did happen and we all couldn't do a thing to stop it. How helpless that makes me feel.

More than 100 innocent civilians were murdered that day in the name of a dictator. I will never forget that night. I can never forgive those monsters. And I ask you to not forget what happened there in Houla. That big scar in the face of all humanity will never fade away. We are truly sorry we failed you Houla. We are ashamed of ourselves.