n Homs, Syria's third-largest city and a focus of resistance to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, snipers pose a direct threat to civilians. But the risk of being shot is just one problem they face -- their daily challenge is finding food, fuel and medical care.
One foreign journalist and film-maker who was recently in Homs said trash was piling up in the streets and fighting has led to a shutdown of basic services. CNN has agreed not to name the journalist for his own security.
While people are not yet starving, he said food was becoming harder to find. The journalist filmed a long line of people queueing for bread in the district of al Khalediyah. One man described his struggle to eat: "I have not eaten bread for 10 days. With all these checkpoints and the constant shooting it is almost impossible to move around."
