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Syria: Jesuit eyewitness report from Homs


Ziad Hilal SJ

Ziad Hilal SJ

'I write to you about our present situation in Homs and what we are going through these days. These last few days, fierce battles have begun between the two sides at war with each other in Homs, and this time it was at its fiercest in our neighbourhood... The situation is very delicate, and each attempt to enter the old part of the city means suicide. Bombing has gone on uninterrupted since Thursday and gives no respite, and the widespread presence of numerous snipers makes entering the old part of Homs impossible ....

According to a young man who lives in the Jesuit residence, destruction in our neighbourhood is immense and even moving around on foot is difficult because of the mounds of stones and rubble in the streets. Five Christians have been killed these last days, some in their homes, others in the street .... According to statistics there are more that 120 people in the neighbourhood and 25 people in our residence. The problem is catering for the daily needs, since we cannot send them any goods from here, as the roads are completely blocked.

In the Adawiyye-Nouzha neighborhood, the situation is better, but we too are exposed to cross-fire and bombing. In fact, three children from our centre have been wounded. In the same incident, one of our parishioners, Marwan Elias, was wounded and underwent surgery various times, but unfortunately died a short time later. Quite a few bombs fell in our area and they destroyed some of the houses and shops too, and yesterday the fighting was very intense in the afternoon and evening, and two bombs fell near our residence, but, thank God, it did not suffer any damage inside.

Yesterday, too, having received a phone call asking me to come to the church to take away what little belongings were left, I hurried there and was met by a horrible sight. The church had suffered very extensive damage, especially the ceiling, the lighting and the icons and stained glass windows. I was deeply moved by the weeping of the faithful when they saw the state to which their church had been reduced .... I just wanted to share with you our situation these days, hoping you will pray for us and for the children of our centres.'

Fr Hilal was ordained in Damascus in July 2010. Clips from his ordination are on Youtube here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtaRaouGrTc

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