Regime blasts holdout Homs district

WAER UNDER FIRE: Regime airstrikes in Al-Waer pounded the last opposition-held district in Homs city Tuesday, punishing rebels and civilians who have been besieged by the regime for more than a year, reported the pro-opposition Homs Media Center.

“The neighborhood was hit by 16 airstrikes in a way that we have never seen before,” an Al-Waer-based media activist, who goes by the pseudonym Mohammed al-Homsi out of fear for his safety, told Syria Direct Wednesday.

“[The attack] may be in retaliation for the fall of Wadi Deif,” al-Homsi said, referring to the opposition’s capture of one of the largest military regime bases in the country, located in Idlib province, on Monday.

At least 19 people died in the regime airstrikes, including an entire family, while bodies are still being recovered from the rubble, according Homs Media Center.

Videos reportedly taken during the aftermath of the attack show bullets striking a local ambulance as the driver rushes to assist the wounded.

“[Regime soldiers] are targeting an ambulance from the Homs hospital with sniper fire!” shouts the ambulance driver.

Al-Waer is home an estimated 90,000 people, many of whom fled there from other parts of Homs. It became the last opposition-controlled area in the city when rebels holding out in Old Homs city withdrew in May 2014 following a UN-brokered truce. 

The airstrikes comes despite a series of negotiations between the regime and rebels in al-Waer over the past several months.  Both sides have repeatedly agreed to ceasefires, only for them to be broken shortly afterwards.

-December 17, 2014

-Photo Courtesy of Homs Media Center

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