Snipers on the roofs of the national hospital in Homs have become a nightmare for all the people who live in Waer; they do not discriminate between children or the elderly, but treat every moving body as a target.
Eyewitnesses have reported the shocking story of a young man who rescued an elderly man wounded by a sniper bullet, only to become a victim himself, as he was shot by a sniper when he tried to bring back the elderly man’s umbrella and mobile.
The number of deaths by snipers have forced the civil society committee in the Waer neighborhood to discuss the sniper crisis in their meeting with Major General Deeb Zaitoon, and to try to reach to an agreement about the situation in the neighborhood.
"There are many snipers on the roof of the national hospital. The position covers a wide area, allowing the snipers to watch in four directions, and which makes it difficult for rebels to target them," Hasan Abo Zein, a resident said.
He added that snipers are most likely to be a mix of regime forces and members of the National Defence Forces militias.
"Waer rebels dealt with those snipers many times, but because the building has different levels and snipers just hit and run, it is difficult for them to get rid of them," he explained.
Regarding the targeting of civilian houses, Hasan Abo Zein confirmed that the NDF militias situated on the roof of the national hospital bombed houses with heavy arms many times causing destruction and fires in many of them, despite the fact that the area is heavily populated.
Zein confirmed that snipers killed people more than rockets and shelling. "Sniping is a humanitarian crisis by all means," he said.
Activist Nader Tayarah explained that the roof of the national hospital had become a base for heavy and medium arms, and the NDF’s militias had taken control of it after the regime’s forces withdrew.
Tayarah criticized some rebels’ battalions for not treating the sniper crisis with the seriousness it needs.
Many other building in Homs have became stations for snipers, like the Gardinia Tower, which is described as “the tower of death” by Homsi people, and the City Center building.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
