[CNN]
Dark images of horror and despair smuggled out of Syria - CNN.com
By Arwa Damon, CNN
July 17, 2012 -- Updated 1522 GMT (2322 HKT)
CNN.com
Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) -- The corpses lay strewn in the restive Damascus suburb
of Douma, all slain in what residents there call a government-backed "massacre."
The scene in the aftermath of the assault, punctuated by images of
grief-stricken people and blood-covered pavement, was recorded last month by
opposition activists who braved the wrath of Syrian security and slipped into
the suburban Damascus city to bear witness to the tumult with their cameras.
The three-man media team moved about the pockmarked urban battleground in
shadows and whispers. Edging step-by-step and block-by-block, they hugged
buildings' walls to avoid catching the eyes of rooftop snipers. But they would
pick up the pace amid bursts of gunfire.
That was at the end of June. The intense bombardment of Douma by Bashar
al-Assad's forces in the days that followed trapped the activists for more than
a week, with government forces blocking the routes out of town and shelling
forcing them to take shelter.
The footage -- just delivered to reporters in Lebanon -- also highlights the
resolve of a guerrilla force of activist-journalists: brave souls who've risked
their lives since March 2011 to record examples of the regime's actions.
The carnage is the latest example of what activists say is relentless abuse
against civilians by al-Assad's security apparatus over the past 16 months.
Douma, a major city in the province of Rif Damashq -- meaning Damascus
countryside, which includes the suburbs that surround the capital city -- has
been consumed by bloodshed since the protests last year morphed into a
nationwide uprising against the regime.
These latest sights, recorded by the activists at a dingy building in the dark
of night, bear witness to the grim conflict in cities, towns and villages
across Syria.
The people seen dead in the scene were among 45 people killed in an attack.
Residents say Syrian security forces raiding a building in search of weapons
wiped out members of several families.
One image shows a little girl sprawled among the dead, many of the bodies
covered in bloody funeral sheets.
A man points to a body and says "he was executed, a civilian." He points to a
second corpse and says, "This is his cousin, shot because he tried to save him."
Another man said security forces ordered men and women into two rooms and
executed them, one after the other.
CNN cannot independently verify these accounts.
But the aftermath rings true for Syrians caught in the maelstrom of what is now
called a civil war and the sight has become routine in areas where resolute
residents have not buckled under to regime soldiers and their militia allies.
Residents prepared the bodies for burial by unceremoniously wrapping up the
dead in funeral sheets and removing them from the building where they were
found.
It is only now that the activists who filmed the grisly scenes were able to get
the footage to Lebanon.
The risk, the activists say, is worth it. Syrians activists say the world needs
to get one more glimpse of the horror and despair engulfing Syria.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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