Syrian Nurse who treated Edith Bouvie in Homs tells her story

Baba Amr nurse
An eyewitness from Homs who had worked in a field hospital where Paul Conroy and Edith Bouvie were treated after being injured during a bombardment attack on their building ; 'S' is a 27-years old nurse participated in setting up the first field hospital in the besieged district of Baba Amr in Homs, and when her house was shelled and destroyed by the regime’s militia , her family fled from Homs to Damascus countryside, but she stayed with a group of doctors, nurses and activists to help in saving injured people of Homs…

‘S’ found no choice but to leave Baba Amr after most of team members who were working in the field hospital withdrew due to the very violent daily shelling of Baba Amr… she said: “we worked only for 27 days there, but the situation was horrible, the shelling did not stop in day time or night, most of us were in a very bad psychological condition, we withdrew and some of us went to work in another field hospital till now”.

During my first meeting with her, she told me how the sudden escalation of violence in Homs started after the massacre committed in Al Saa’a square in Homs during the first sit-in on the 17th of April 2011. when 7 young men were killed on the 16th of April 2011 in Bab El Sibaa’ district in Homs during a demonstration against Assad’s regime, and after the funeral of the young martyrs on the 17th of April, a group of young men decided to gather in the famous Al Saa’a square to make a sit-in and protest against the regime for using the force against the peaceful demonstrations which were spreading everywhere in Syria… they wanted to protest against the mayor of Homs, Iyad Al Ghazal, she told me that people’s demand at the beginning was to replace that corrupted mayor… in that day, more than 100,000 persons gathered, and all the ways to the square were blocked by people, the police men were scared, people were coming to the square from all over Homs, the call for the sit-in exceeded all expectations, that was a victory in itself… before midnight, the protesters receive a threat that if they did not put an end to the sit-in they regime’s forces will open fire on them, but the young men were very enthusiastic and they refused to do that, then people started to leave the square to rest and come next day, but around 5000 young men stayed, and indeed, at 2 am of that night, some of them were sitting on the floor or sleeping in tents, the regime’s forces started shooting them- some people said that the army's 4th Division commanded by Assad's brother Maher was the responsible for the massacre - the young men were running away randomly, the shooting was like rain, some of them hid in the close houses and some were arrested, but a huge massacre was committed there, no body until now knows the exact number of the dead men, but it is estimated to be between 200-300 persons, people said that the dead bodies were removed from the streets by bulldozers and carried by trash trucks to a place in north Homs called Tal Al Nasr and buried there… many families until now do not know if their sons are among the dead ones or arrested… next day people saw the fire-fighting trucks washing the street to remove the blood…
What happened that night had changed Homs, and people now want to end Assad’s regime…the demonstrations did not stop and the regime was using violence to suppress the protesters.
During a peaceful demonstration in the University Bridge area against Assad’s regime, the regime forces opened fire and killed 7 young men from Baba Amr…after 3 weeks, the mayor contacted the leaders of Baba Amr district and he asked for a meeting with them…he told them that the president Assad wants to have a meeting with the families who lost their sons during the demonstration, the mayor requested from them not to talk, and just to listen to the president; Assad told them that they have the right to protest and make demonstrations! And that he will compensate the families for their loss…but when people went out the next Friday to demonstrate they were faced with shooting, that was when the armed opposition against Assad started; men from Baba Amr district faced the military forces for the first time by weapons, and that is why Baba Amr was under the most violent attacks since the beginning of the uprising in Syria
She told about a young man who was shot in his eye and arrested during the demonstration, he was a live, but after 3 days his body was delivered to his family and he was shot in head…that was like a warning to anyone thinks of participating in the demonstrations…The first raid by regime’s forces in Baba Amr was in May 2011, they broke in the houses and took the weapons, arrested young men and set up the check points everywhere, and in June, they sent tanks to inside the district…
'S' told me that the use of violence against peaceful young men changed everyone’s opinion about Bashar Al Assad, she said: “I personally used to be proud of him, we think that he will be different, but young men were dying daily between my arms, how they expect us not to resist them”
Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik were killed on February 22, 2012 while they were trying to flee from a makeshift media center, which was being shelled by the Assad’s Army, they were leaving the house with 4 journalists, but a missile targeted them and they were killed immediately, Paul Conroy and Edith Bouvie were badly injured in their legs… the Free Army carried them to the field hospital where 'S' works, she told me that the hospital was an apartment just a few minutes far from where the journalists used to stay, the journalists were treated and kept in another apartment in the same building. I asked her if she remember anything they said, she said that she does not speak English and the situation was very hectic there and she did not have time to talk with them, but she told me that she fixed the bandage on Edith Bouvie’s fractured leg when the last one was brought again to the field hospital after the failure of the first operation to evacuate her out of Homs to Lebanon…she told me also that Edith Bouvie used to rely on 'M', a pharmacist works in the field hospital and still till now works in Homs. Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik were buried in a close garden, but their bodies were exhumed later and sent to their homelands. The activists wanted to find a way to evacuate the journalists out of Homs, they were sure that the regime’s forces will want to target the journalists again, and the situation was very dangerous; Baba Amr was full of regime’s spies who inform the army about the activist’s places… during the first attempt to evacuate them, the regime’s forces discover them and shelled them, a group of activists and Free Army memebers who were carrying Paul Conroy managed to reach to Lebanon but the group who was with Edith Bouvie and William Daniels could ‘not reach, they were trying to arrive the Lebanese border through a tunnel but the regime’s army discovered them, and they had to go back to Baba Amr, but during that rescue operation, 14 activists were killed…the second attempt they were able to evacuate Edith Bouvie and William Daniels out of Baba Amr to Lebanon.
'S' showed me videos she recorded during her work in the field hospital, they used to sleep in an apartment in the same building because it was not safe for them to get out, she cried when she saw in the video her friends who were killed there, not all of them were lucky to survive…'S' also in danger as she is “wanted” after she appeared in the report which Marie Colvin made from the field hospital before she was killed… she showed me a photo taken in the field hospital for a young girl who was badly injured by shrapnel and she said that this girl is in Damascus countryside now, the girl’s tragic story will come soon…