Members of the Free Syrian Army take positions near the town of al-Qusayr in Homs province, Syria, in anticipation of an attack by regime forces that won't come [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Members of the Free Syrian Army's Ah Al Rassi (freedom for the river Assi) brigade take part in an attack on regime forces in the village of Nizareer, near the Lebanese border in Homs province, Syria, on Saturday, May 12th. The FSA said the attack was a response to a regime incursion into the village during which they killed villagers and imprisoned others [Executive/Sam Tarling]
This fighter survived his injuries after comrades patched his wounds before sending him back to safety [Executive/Sam Tarling]
A fighter is treated for his wounds after being shot in the torso and the leg while attempting to fire a rocket propelled grenade at government troops [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Member of the Free Syrian Army prepare to attack regime forces in the village of Nizareer, near the Lebanese border in Homs province [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Dead civilians are loaded onto the back of a truck outside a hospital in al-Qusayr, Homs province, after heavy fighting broke out in the town after the Syrian Army entered the town [Executive/Sam Tarling]
FSA fighters take a moment of solitude in the town's martyrs' cemetery, where some 200 people are buried [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Members of the Free Syrian Army's Mughaweer (commandos) Ah Al Rassi (freedom for the river Assi) brigades celebrate after an attack on regime forces in the village of Nizareer, near the Lebanese border. The FSA said the attack was in response to a regime incursion into the village during which they killed villagers and imprisoned others [Executive/Sam Tarling]
FSA brigades return home after attacking regime forces that had raided a village near the Lebanese border [Executive/Sam Tarling]
With the town's mosques unusable due to shell damage, Friday prayers are held in the street under the watchful eye of FSA guards [Executive/Sam Tarling]
United Nations monitors talk to community leaders in an effort to broker a cease fire. While there is an uneasy peace of sorts in al-Qusayr, it's frequently shattered by sniper attacks and shellfire. The efficacy of the UN mission in Syria is yet to be measured but its presence seems to have been welcomed by people in al-Qusayr [Executive/Sam Tarling]
A fighter from the Free Syrian Army's 'commandos brigade' receives treatment for a previous shrapnel wound at a field hospital in al-Qusayr [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Although al-Qusayr is effectively blockaded by the government, the FSA controls the bountiful arable land to the south of the town. Here an FSA fighter cooks beans over an impromptu barbecue [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Members of the Free Syrian Army 'commandos brigade' take positions near the town in anticipation of an attack by regime forces [Executive/Sam Tarling]
A moment of relief as the Syrian Red Crescent delivers two truck-loads of much needed food. [Executive/Sam Tarling]
A family packs up and leaves for the safety of Lebanon. Some 80 percent of the town's 50,000 residents have now left [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Heavy shelling has almost completely destroyed some parts of this small, rural town [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Members of the Free Syrian Army 'commandos brigade' take part in a training exercise [Executive/Sam Tarling]
FSA fighters take part in a training exercise in the countryside outside al-Qusayr [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Petrol for sale in bottles such as these are a common sight; there's no working gas station so the town is fueled by a stream of smugglers. Prices are exorbitant [Executive/Sam Tarling]
A woman makes bread by hand on a traditional 'saj' oven because oven-baked break is in short supply in al-Qusayr [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Every day, residents of al-Qusayr celebrate their freedom and protest openly against the regime [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Surgeons use basic equipment to save the life of a man who was shot by a sniper positioned at the town's hospital [Executive/Sam Tarling]
A boy brandishes the sole of a shoe at a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad which is draped inside a dumpster in which other demonstrators have been throwing rubbish [Executive/Sam Tarling]
A barber is seen cutting hair through the broken window of his salon on Monday, May 7th, as a parliamentary election took place elsewhere in the country [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Due to trigger-happy government snipers, streets with checkpoints such as this are deserted [Executive/Sam Tarling]
Al-Qusayr pays a heavy toll for a taste of freedom – photos by Sam Tarling for Executive
