Baladi News – Homs (Saleh Al Dahhiek)
The regime forces, and their supporting militias took control over the city of Al-Qaryatayn in Homs eastern countryside in the beginning of last April after forcing ISIS out. Since then, no independent media have been able to enter the city and discover the situations of civilians under the regime control.
A private source told Baladi News that “what happened in Al-Qaryatayn is very terrifying. I did not witness the battles, but the extent of destruction in the city tells the whole story. The percentage of wrecked houses exceeds 80%, and the remaining ones are heavily damaged. All houses were robbed by the regime soldiers. The soldiers took a part of the stolen objects, and the remaining objects were sold.”
The source, who visits the city on a regular basis because of his job, added that “the regime forces used destructive missiles in their battles in Al-Qaryatayn. I concluded that when I noticed the holes that such missiles left in the ground, which are 12 meters deep. Also, the Russian airstrikes and missile shelling left their marks in the wrecked city.”
The source indicated that “Unlike what the Syrian regime media say, no civilians currently live in the city at all. What happened when photos of buses transporting people to the city were taken was a mere lie that had been repeated by the regime since the revolution broke out. The indigenous people who returned to the city spent a few hours weeping over the rubble and left. Meanwhile, those inhabiting the city now are not native to it, but are the families of the soldiers there, including non-Syrians, mostly Iraqis.”
It is noteworthy that Al–Qaryatayn, the city located east from Homs and 100 km to the west of Palmyra, had witnessed fierce clashes between the regime forces and ISIS militants for several months. During the clashes, the city had undergone heavy airstrikes by the Russian and Syrian regime air forces, which had forced thousands of its residents to flee towards the Jordanian borders. Most of these refugees are currently living in al-Rukban camp under very difficult humanitarian circumstances.