CNN news 2014-05-17 加文本

cnn news 2014-05-17

CARL AZUZ, cnn ANCHOR: Hi. I`m Carl Azuz. For cnn STUDENT NEWS. It`s good to see you this Wednesday May 14. We are starting today with a report from the Middle Eastern nation of Syria. It`s a country that`s been divided, and in many places destroyed by civil war.

FRED PLEITGEN, cnn CORRESPONDENT: That started three years ago, and the Syrian observatory for human rights says at least 150,000 people have been killed, and that roughly a third of those people are civilians. A week ago, a truce took effect in the city of Homs. This is a strategically important city for both the Syrian government and the rebels fighting it. It`s an ancient city, and it`s a city that`s been under siege in the conflict.

The cease-fire is showing signs of falling apart, but it brought at least temporary relief to people who`d seen war at their doorstep.

The massive destruction and an old town of Homs shows the whole tragedy of Syria Civil War. But in the middle of this sad scene some are (INAUDIBLE). Zeina Akhras is one of only a handful of civilians who lived through the entire 2.5 years siege of old Hams.

"I don`t even want to think about it", she says. The last three months were the toughest because we could only eat grass and leaves all the time.

The Syrian Army sealed off Homs after it fell into rebel hands, supplies of food and medicine quickly depleted.

Zeina`s brother Aiman was trapped with her the whole time. He tried to find food and gather firewood for the little stove in their apartment.

"I took wood this size and bigger" he says. It`s some of the wood rebels broke out of Homs to burn. I only use leftovers.

When virtually all their food had run out, they were forced to eat leaves. Aiman says of all places, he found the best ones in a graveyard. He asks me to try them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good?

ZEINA AKHRAS (speaking Arabic)

PLEITGEN (on camera): It`s OK. Everyday?

PLEITGEN (voice over): For breakfast, lunch and dinner, he says. And each meal was just a tiny bowlful.

What we always have to keep in mind is that the people who are stranded here were not only starving. They were also subject to intense shelling pretty much round the clock that laid waste to large parts of the historic town of Homs.

With its use of heavy weapons and the siege of this and other districts in Homs, the Assad regime has been accused of using starvation as a weapon in the civil war.

Zeina and Aiman said their apartment was raided by opposition fighters dozens of times, and rebels took most of their few remaining supplies.

AIMAN (speaking Arabic)

PLEITGEN (on camera): They took everything, he says. Marmalade, five canisters of olive oil, honey, tea - they didn`t leave anything.

After more than two years of hunger, Zeina is week. She weighs only 34 kilos, 68 pounds.

These photos from a family celebration show her before the conflict began.

(EVT)

AZUZ: Next story takes us to the U.S. state of Texas, a wildfire started burning in a panhandle on Sunday, and strong winds whipped it across the landscape. As of last night, the Texas A&M forest service said the fire was about 65 percent contained, but if it had still destroyed more than 90 homes, dozens of other buildings and forced the evacuations of thousands of people.

Wildfires are relatively common in the U.S. On average, the country sees more than 100,000 of them a year. They burned between 4 and 5 million acres, that`s like millions of football fields. And the vast majority of these fires, about 90 percent are caused by people, though officials don`t know yet what caused the one in Texas.