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Civilian families remaining inside the besieged districts of Homs
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continue to cling on to life in between the jaws of death and hunger.
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They continue to live while their disctricts are being hammered daily by missiles,
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leaving them surrounded with rubble, the memories and dreams.
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The way these families stand tall is just like the ancient stones of Homs:
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surviving, full of life, despite the daily agony and misery.
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Scenes and slogans carved by the living and the martyrs are still seen
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on the walls and houses that remain standing.
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Vibrant and clear these images are, insisting that we keep an eye on them,
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that we look for them in all this destruction.
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Sandbags, barricades, soldiers armed to their teeth, bullet coats, bombs ...
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These factors simply make up the checkpoints of the regime's army, cutting off each district from the other
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and imposing the suffocating siege of Homsi families as they draw images of fear and terror.
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These checkpoints are made to exterminate safety and security,
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they're made to spread fear, to terrorize, to torture, to arrest and to kill.
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On these checkpoints, fear spreads and freedom is stolen. It is where death is practised.
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The name of your district will be the one they hate, your family name will be similar to one of the
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names on the wanted lists composed by the forces at these checkpoints, depending on their mood.
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Entire districts are under siege by Assad's soldiers, shabiha and thugs.
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The thugs will terrorize civilians as they pass in between these districts
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and impose diverse means of anguish.
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The Gardenia Tower or, as the residents of Homs call it, the "Death Tower".
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It overlooks most of the districts, as it is located where Al-Hamra and Al-Ghouta meet.
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Though its weapons are stationed on staggeringly high levels, the tower plants death
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and fires destruction onto the besieged districts.
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The Death Tower sniper has claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent souls.
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You only need to pass by this ruthless sniper to look death in the eye.
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Eyewitness testimony: "The sounds of the tower's weapons have become so normal to the ears of the
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families of Homs. The machine guns stationed overlooking pose a threat and constant fear
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amongst them as the smell of death dominates all. These districts have lost many of their civilians
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to the tower and those stationed in it."
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Artillery, buildings fall apart, carrying with them dreams and a future that could have been.
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This is the situation inside besieged Homs day and night. Civilians spend their evenings
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listening to the sounds of missiles and tanks moving by, then wake up to the smell of smoke,
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scenes of fires rising to the skies and bullets abducting several souls.
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It isn't something odd to wake up and find your home now in rubble, your neighborhood destroyed,
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your children hanging between life and death.
It isn't strange to forget the sounds of birds
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because these have been substituted with anti-aircrafts, Shilka tanks and T-72s,
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where they all keep roaring from the early hours of the morning till late at night.
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The sounds that now have become a part of their lives and dreams.
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In the middle of the siege, there are people, holding on to the soil and walls with all their might.
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They're hanging their dreams inside because they believe that surviving
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this oppressive situation will give birth to the longer way to victory.
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They live through the sounds of artillery and strive through the day, hungry and tired,
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with victory at sight where they will continue to live.
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They gave their dreams, hopes and wishes to these besieged neighborhoods
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because they're not giving up, they're standing tall.
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Nothing can bring a smile to the face within the siege except children.
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Their childhood is now made of shelling. They don't dream of quiet days or peaceful mornings with birds,
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with a Jasmin smell coming through.
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They don't even dream of a cup of milk, which most children take for granted.
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All they dream of is to find a space within all this destruction, free of rubble, free of blood,
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a place for them to play football, their handmade football, made of the remainders of bullets and explosives.
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Church bells ring through the streets, as the call to prayer is made from mosques
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with the words "God is great" that come through the alleys. Everyone moves their way to pray,
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either in a church or in a mosque. God is one. The prayer is one. Victory against the oppressor
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is the shared prayer between all. It is all they repeat all the time, in the prayers they keep in their hearts.
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It is inside these besieged neighborhoods of Homs that you learn the true meaning of surviving
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between the jaws of death and mass destruction.
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Their day starts with the sounds of deafening shelling and the rumble of tanks.
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With their lenses at hand, they befriend the lonely alleys,
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documenting destruction and death lurking in every corner.
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They fear no bullets, they challenge every shell, they don't spare a look to the sniper waiting for their
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shadows at the end of each road to take their life that has no more worth to him but a candle.
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The truth is what they're after, the truth is what they gave their lives and future for,
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the truth and the pictures of suffering, grievery and hope.
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"Homs between two sieges" features minutes into the daily life of the families of Homs
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and their suffering under the long-term suffocating siege.
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It's a short film that portraits their agony and documents memorial revolutionary moments
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in the city of Homs, the "city of the revolution".
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Filmed and directed by the "Lens of a young Homsi" team.
