Sniper fire casts blanket of fear over Syrian town

Every sunrise over Idlib sets off a deadly soundtrack -- the crack of snipers' bullets that hail down from roofs and hillsides and kill indiscriminately. The locals of the northern Syrian city have become grimly familiar with their unseen enemies -- called "qanas," the Arabic name for snipers -- whose bullets cut through the air long after nightfall, often until midnight. Their victims seem chosen at random. During the two weeks I just spent there, I witnessed the funerals of three children who were shot on Idlib's streets in broad daylight. Since, after months of fighting, the local graveyard was already full, the children were buried in a playground instead. I saw their three small graves and heard the weeping of their grieving families. The locals say children are more vulnerable because older people know which streets to keep away from, but they do not. The qanas' aim, as much as killing, seems to be to spread fear in the city, the centre of which is held by rebel group Jeish al Tahrir (Liberation Army), a coalition of army deserters and townspeople. The rebel group, which is separate from the larger Free Syrian Army, says its strength in Idlib, the second largest city in Syria's north, is the support of common people, including many women. The fighters -- there are perhaps 15,000 of them -- have guns, grenades and home-made bombs, but it's far from clear how many of them have the military training to use the weapons effectively. As terrified as Idlib's people may be from the snipers besieging the city, the mosque in the centre is still the gathering point for thousands for demonstrations every Friday, after prayers. Last Friday, close to 10,000 people marched from the mosque to the centre, where, inspired by other Arab Spring uprisings, they hung up a huge flag of the new Libya and another of Egypt. As they chanted slogans, the familiar crackle of qanas' bullets again echoed through the streets, quickly turning the Libyan flag into a sieve before its tattered remains dropped to the ground. The rebels were defiant, the most fearless among them walking straight toward the muzzle flashes of the distant snipers before fellow rebels dragged them to safety. The snipers were clearly too far away to target individuals -- they were taking aim at the crowd itself, and its spirit of defiance. The masses only dispersed when the Syrian army began using cannon fire.