Syria - Descent into Hell Our World

undercover in the country. This programme contains scenes of

violence throughout. Syria, the sound of battle is now constant. An

estimated 23,000 people are dead. Millions have abandoned their homes

and hundreds of thousands have fled the country. And, after a year and

a half of conflict, the two sides are as divorced from reality as it

off. President Assad claims he has While the rebels dream on. We are

sure of victory. The International Committee should help costs

seriously. It will take only a few weeks. How did Syria find itself on

this path towards death and destruction while the world looks

How did it happen? I have kept in touch with people I have met on

trips to Damascus and Homs, and by looking at what was happening in

their eyes and attending to understand the tragic turn of

events which has left Syria the disaster it is today. The origins

of the uprising were modest. In January last year, a group of young

people, Muslims and Christians put an invitation on Facebook to join a

demonstration outside the Egyptian embassy in support of the

protesters in the Square. Tie here square. A young film-maker was one

of the organisers off of this first demonstration. We sat, we chanted,

we lit candles, we sang the national anthem and a bar similar

songs. Less than an hour later one of the more enthusiastic parts of

the crowd started chanting, the wind of change has blow. That is

when the security staff said we had to stop. Many were arrested.

Cameras confiscated and they were told calls for change would not be

tolerated. A 13-year-old boy and the south of the country was one of

the first victims. He was arrested, tortured and killed. After a group

of schoolboys inspired by the Arab Spring road and you regime slogans

on their school wall. It was a This woman who I met in Damascus a

year ago has crossed the border from Syria into Lebanon to update

beyond the situation. She tells me how shocked everyone was when the

child was murdered and how they will thought President Assad would

Win the President came out on the first speech he should have

admitted it was a mistake to react violently. That the people who did

that would stand trial. He could have announced the official

mourning for three days. That would have calmed people down. He did not.

The first speech was announcing war Opposition was driven underground,

and freedom of speech tonight. -- Journalists who had been allowed in

officially were only given the government point of view. I wanted

an alternative and as the first television reported to enter Syria

during the uprising, had to go undercover and carry out interviews

in hiding. Once in Damascus, at asked a well-known champion of

media freedom whether I could meet openly with protesters and attend

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He set about co-ordinating the locals who wide by-now getting

pictures out through YouTube. He has since been imprisoned for his

effort. Although such pictures cannot always be verified, for much

of the uprising they are all the outside world has been able to see.

Protesters armed only with smart phones at this stage of the

conflict, recorded the increasing violence. As it spread from the

South it was about to engulf most of the country. The outside world

may have been watching but what was it doing? In August, the Arab

League met and condemned the crackdown in Syria. After talks

with President Assad, the spokesman claimed he had agreed to end the

violence. Any optimism fuelled by the statement was to be short-lived.

With news of the resistance breeding, I decided to sneak back

into Syria, this time to Homs which had become the epicentre of the

revolution. A local resistance co- ordinator gave me a tour of but I

armour, the part of the city that was bearing the brunt of the attack

by government forces. He pointed out with indignation the

uncollected rubbish and bullet- There was also a carnival

atmosphere. People rejoicing in the freedom to express themselves after

After my exchange with this demonstrator, the army opened fire.

Nonetheless, opposition leaders told me they were trying to keep

their protest peaceful and to hold a demonstration which included all

This man is a local businessman. After joining the revolutionary

council in Homs he had to leave his home and go into hiding. The way

team is trying to push us to be involved in the civil war. It will

not succeed. We are aware of the risk. And you can see the

Christians and Sunni marching together and shouting for freedom

for all people. Our real enemy is the regime itself. But the face of

non-violent demonstration was coming to an end. -- phase. Here in

Homs, army snipers targeted civilians as they tried to leave

Friday prayers. To attend what by now had become weekly

demonstrations. Little wonder that peaceful protest gave way to

fighting. According to this man who speaks to me from his current

hiding place in Homs. When I spoke to you and Homs a year ago, you

said you were committed to a political, peaceful solution and

you did not want the situation to get out of control. We tried our

best to stay committed to peaceful movement against this dictatorial

regime. As a result of the mass destruction of our city, tens of

thousands of peaceful unarmed civilians, who were killed we are

obliged to carry arms to defend ourselves. It was not our choice.

Former businessmen, lawyers and students picked up arms. There have

been allegations of atrocities on both sides. With so many

restrictions in place these reports are hard to confirm. The increasing

and indiscriminate bombing of urban areas is not. 200 civilian deaths

were reported in Homs in one day. The Sunday Times reporter and a

French journalist were killed by Syrian government troops. It

prompted another international outcry. In March the United Nations

called an emergency meeting. Russia and China's refusal to attend and

there could be no resolution, only a statement. The Security Council

announces its gravest concern at the deteriorating situation which

has resulted in a serious human rights crisis and a deplorable

humanitarian situation. Strong President Assad had to do something.

He visited the suburb in homes which had been attacked more than

any other. This was an opportunity -- ammends. I ask whether they have

seen any signs of rebuilding. TRANSLATION: Is a big lie. He

destroyed the city. He is not serious about rebuilding it. He

also destroyed many villages in other areas. He made his decision

to defeat the peace for opposition. The barbarity reached new extremes

with a massacre. UN monitors concerned the killing of more than

100 people, mainly women and children, by government fiat --

thugs. Occasional monitoring is all the government can do. Without the

backing of a Security Council resolution the UN is impotent.

Again, will the leaders met to talk. As a gathering of friends of Syria

group in Paris. They stood in memory of the victims of violence.

They agreed that there would be no military intervention to help the

rebels, only a call for tougher sanctions. We have to deny the

Syrian regime the sources of finance which they are using to

fund their killing machine. Just like all the lame interventions by

the international community, President Assad has ignored them.

In a scarcely believable statement he denied what his army had done.

He has warned that the war he has declared against his people will

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My request to the Syrian government to explain their attacks on

civilians have been ignored. Everyone I have met on my trip to

Syria has been imprisoned or fled the country. In Damascus,

demonstrators are calling for the release of a media co-ordinator who

was arrested in February. His whereabouts are unknown. My other

film-maker has been arrested and released. He can slip over the

border to meet me. She describes what it is like for people like her

living in Damascus today. TRANSLATION: Too many helicopters

going around, sniper's over so many buildings are shooting everything

that moved. I did not notice when the shot actually came in, the

window was open. There was no wrote in class. A work of the next

morning and realised there was a hole in the wall above the bed.

got back into it with some of those I met in Homs last year. A year ago

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you to go before a tour around the Activists in Homs had Sander's

pictures to illustrate daily life. We verified them as far as possible

with refugees from the city now living in London. Everything, they

say, is in short supply. Food, gas, fresh water. All are now rationed.

Young children who lose their homes and families in the bombardment are

Parents say they cannot allow children to leave the confines of

what remains of their homes. There Doctors are being imprisoned for

helping the opposition. There is a shortage of medical equipment and

drugs. Hundreds are dying who could be saved. This man is a local

businessman who joined the revolution in Homs. He has been

imprisoned, tortured and release. He and his colleagues say they will

fight until the end. He warned, so will President Assad. We thought in

the beginning that we would get effective support from the

governments of the West. We got nothing. When we reach democracy,

President Assad and his relatives will all be sent to the Criminal