ANKARA
A member of the Syrian General Revolution Commission said on Sunday that Homs had turned into a ruined city due to Syrian army operations.
Rami Humusi said that many neighborhoods in the city of Homs were ruined due to operations and use of heavy weapons.
"Shopping malls have been plundered and people have difficulties in even meeting their basic needs," Humusi told AA correspondent.
Humusi said the army had been staging operations on Homs for three months, and thousands of houses were damaged and hundreds of houses were demolished.
Mortars and rockets set some places of the city on fire, and fire spread as they could not interfere, Humusi said.
Humusi said some people were trapped under the demolished houses, and those who rushed to help them became a target of snipers.
"Therefore, we could not help those people who were trapped under rubble due to security reasons. People were left to their destinies," Humusi said.
Humusi said snipers opened fire at certain hours, and people could not even get out of their houses to buy their basic needs.
"Many markets and shopping malls were plundered by security forces to prevent people from buying their needs," Humusi said.
Humusi said many newborns died due to lack of technical devises at hospitals in Homs, and children were affected and had psychological problems due to operations.
People used to live together and had no problems before the crackdown began in Syria, Humusi said.
Humusi also said the Syrian regime triggered sectarian and religious discrimination among people after crackdown began, and tried to cause a row between people.
The wave of "Arab Spring" reached Syria on March 15, 2011 and Syrian people started to protest the government in a small southern city. The government responded with heavy-handed force, and demonstrations quickly spread across much of the country. Thousands of people are reported to be killed in ongoing protests in Syria so far.
Syria was expelled from the Arab League after it agreed to a peace plan only to step up attacks on protesters. In late 2011 and early 2012, Syria agreed to allow league observers into the country. But their presence did nothing to slow the violence.
In February, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to approve a resolution condemning President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on the uprising, but China and Russia have blocked all efforts by the United Nations, the Arab League and others for a more forceful intervention.
In November 2011, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu unveiled a list of nine sanctions on Syria. The number of Syrians staying in Turkey after fleeing violence in their country was 23,702 on Friday.
United Nations (UN)-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan includes demands for a ceasefire, the immediate withdrawal of heavy armour from residential areas and access for humanitarian aid.
The ceasefire is the key part of special envoy Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan, which was presented to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on March 10 and accepted by him on March 27.
