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Source: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,830606,00.html
Losing Hope in Syria's Devastated Countryside
(Der Spiegel-Germany) In the village of Bashiriya in Idlib Province, the helicopters appeared over the top of the hill shortly after 9 a.m. on April 9. A volley of rockets incinerated the first houses, while the gunners pursued the fleeing villagers with their machine guns and shot those who didn't manage to take shelter under the trees. They even mowed down a herd of sheep. The tanks arrived minutes later, already firing indiscriminately into the village from hundreds of meters away. Then came the soldiers, who went from house to house, first looting and then burning down more than 100 houses. It's been quiet in Bashiriya since the attack. Half of the 7,000 residents have fled. A trip through the villages in northwest Idlib Province leads through a world in which the inhabitants are being kept in check but are no longer under the government's control. The fear of the once omnipresent government informants has disappeared in the villages, where everyone now speaks his mind and the drivers for the FSA write "Free Army" on their dusty rear windows.