Before Houla becomes another Madaya… The Syrian Observatory calls upon the international community to lift the siege of it
Al-Houla area (located in the northwestern countryside of Homs) is still witnessing an intensified continuous shelling by the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them, by rocket and artillery shells, as well as the airstrikes by the Syrian and Russian warplanes and by dropping barrel bombs by regime’s helicopters on it, this attacks since the 18th of April until dawn of the 25th of same month, have killed 11 civilians, including four children and three citizen women, in addition to injuring about 70 others, some of them had permanent disabilities, al-Houla area have more than 60 thousand people of its local residents and other displaced citizens from the countryside of Hama and Homs and several other areas in Syria, and this air and missile strikes resulted in the destruction of some 50 houses between full and partial destruction, also the area is suffering a shortage of basic materials and everyday life’s requirement, because of the siege on the area by the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them.
We, in the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, call on the international community to urgently take action to stop shelling al-Houla area in the northwestern countryside of Homs, and to lift the siege of it immediately, before al-Houla turns into another Madaya, and before the death of their children out-of-starvation stir the conscience of the sleeping international community, when it is too late.