Syria Under Siege: Photographs by Alessio Romenzi

2 minute read

Syria is a country with two clashing armies. On one side is President Bashar Assad and his more than 200,000 men, tanks, mortars and weapons from Russia. Opposing them is a phenomenon called the Free Syrian Army, a loose franchise of lightly armed military defectors and, in some areas, civilians, who are waging a growing number of guerrilla campaigns in their hometowns and cities. The FSA fighters count on weapons that enter clandestinely from Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq. Every Syrian man who flees across the border is “FSA in waiting,” according to a human-rights activist in Jordan, where Kalashnikovs have been going for about $1,600. Most of the men go back into Syria as soon as they secure a weapon, he says.

Back in their homeland, they face a regime that is out to annihilate all who oppose it. Photographer Alessio Romenzi was among the enemies of the Assad government, with fighters of the Free Syrian Army and people of Bab Amr, a rebellious district in the besieged city of Homs. On assignment for TIME, he took shelter with locals in a basement of a home in Bab Amr. There, no one dares to step outside or even venture upstairs for fear of government shells crashing onto them. Bodies have been dragged into homes from the streets so they will not rot out in the open. It is too dangerous to hold funerals. Romenzi counted 25 civilian fatalities in just two hours of bombardment in the area. As he wrote in an e-mail, “The word ‘safe’ is not in our dictionary these days.”

Romenzi is a freelance photographer based in Italy. You can see more of his work here, and on LightBox here.

Abouzeid is a Middle East correspondent for TIME. Follow her on Twitter at @raniaab.

Read more about Syria: Syria’s Clashing Armies

A Syrian man holds his wounded brother in a house that is used as a hospital in Bab Amr, a southern neighborhood of Homs. Feb. 6, 2012Alessio Romenzi for TIME
Families seek shelter from rocket attacks in Bab Amr. Feb. 6, 2012Alessio Romenzi for TIME
Dead Syrians in the entrance of a house that is used as a hospital in Bab Amr. Feb. 6, 2012Alessio Romenzi for TIME
A Syrian man holds the head of a severely wounded man at the entrance of a house that is used as a hospital in Bab Amr. Feb. 6, 2012Alessio Romenzi for TIME
A Syrian doctor prepares to perform surgery on wounded men in a house that is used as hospital in Bab Amr. Feb. 6, 2012Alessio Romenzi for TIME
Displaced women and children seek shelter from shelling in a basement in Bab Amr. Feb. 7, 2012Alessio Romenzi for TIME
A member of the Free Syrian Army participates in an attack operation against the Syrian army in Al Qsair, a town of 40,000 inhabitants that is southwest of Homs. Jan. 27, 2012Alessio Romenzi
Members of the Free Syrian Army stand guard at night in Al Qsair. Jan. 23, 2012Alessio Romenzi
An antiregime demonstration in Al Qsair. Jan. 27, 2012Alessio Romenzi
A member of the Free Syrian Army burns a portrait of Bashar Assad in Al Qsair. Jan. 25, 2012Alessio Romenzi
A house destroyed by a Syrian army tank shell in Al Qsair. Jan. 25, 2012Alessio Romenzi
Mourners at the funeral of Asem Bader Waw, a 31-year-old shot dead by a Syrian army sniper in Al Qsair. Jan. 31, 2012Alessio Romenzi
Mourners at the funeral of Mohammad Baakour, a 14-year-old shot dead by a Syrian army sniper in Al Qsair. Jan. 27, 2012Alessio Romenzi
Members of the Free Syrian Army in Al Qsair. Jan. 27, 2012Alessio Romenzi
Members of the Free Syrian Army in Al Qsair. Jan. 27, 2012Alessio Romenzi
A man runs away from Syrian army snipers in Al Qsair. Jan. 25, 2012Alessio Romenzi
A member of the Free Syrian Army shoots at the Syrian army in Al Qsair. Jan. 24, 2012Alessio Romenzi
Mourners at the funeral of Asem Bader Waw, a 31-year-old shot dead by a Syrian army sniper in Al Qsair. Jan. 31, 2012Alessio Romenzi
Members of the Free Syrian Army move their position in Al Qsair. Jan. 28, 2012Alessio Romenzi
A house hit by Syrian army tank shells in Al Qsair. Jan. 25, 2012Alessio Romenzi
A member of the Free Syrian Army holds an AK-47 in Al Qsair. Jan. 27, 2012Alessio Romenzi
Mourners at the funeral of Asem Bader Waw, a 31-year-old shot dead by a Syrian army sniper in Al Qsair. Jan. 31, 2012Alessio Romenzi
Mourners at the funeral of Asem Bader Waw, a 31-year-old shot dead by a Syrian army sniper in Al Qsair. Jan. 31, 2012Alessio Romenzi
The mother and sons of Tala Yathrib Alzhory, who on Sept. 29, 2011, was shot dead by the Syrian army while he was in the countryside of Al Qsair. Jan. 24, 2012Alessio Romenzi
A night view of a minaret in Al Qsair. Jan. 31, 2012Alessio Romenzi

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