PO BAG 1: Syrian

9 April 2017

Bereaved Syrian father: US missile strike not enough

Abdel Hameed Alyousef, 29, of Khan Sheikhoun, Syria, looks at photographs of his deceased children on his cell phone in Antakya, southeastern Turkey, late Friday, April 7, 2017. His wife Dalal and his 9-month-old twins Aya and Ahmed, along with other members of his family were all killed in Tuesday's chemical weapon attack on the Syrian town that killed some 87 people. The human cost of the attack is evident as Alyousef says 'I had lost 19 of my close relatives' in the attack which has been widely blamed on Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, although Syria officially denied using chemical weapons.

Abdel Hameed al-Yousef woke to the sound of an early morning bombardment in the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun and told his wife Dalal to take their twins Aya and Ahmed to safety outside.

He emerged to find the home covered in dust, and then a new strike exploded about 400 yards (300 meters away).

Within minutes, he said, his eyes started to water, and he soon lost consciousness.

18 March 2017

Syrian rebels begin evacuation from besieged Homs

Gunmen and family members leave the al-Waer neighborhood bound for a town on the Turkish border, in Homs, Syria, Saturday, March 18, 2017. Scores of Syrian opposition fighters and their families have begun leaving al-Waer, the last rebel-held neighborhood in the central city of Homs as part of a Russian-backed evacuation deal signed earlier this week. The city was once known as the epicenter of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Scores of Syrian opposition fighters and their families began leaving the last rebel-held neighborhood in the central city of Homs on Saturday as part of a Russian-backed evacuation deal signed earlier this week.

By sunset, 344 fighters and their families had left the city — once a center of protest during the 2011 uprising — completing the evacuation for the day. They were bound for a town on the Turkish border after the latest in a series of local agreements in which insurgents have relocated to the rebel-held north after months or years under siege in the country's major cities.