HOMS, Syria — Green are the fields on the way from Qusair to Homs, green as much as the battle for Qusair was red. The highway from Lebanon’s city of Baalbek, Hezbollah’s stronghold, to Qirdaha, President Bashar al-Assad’s hometown, is now clear; the road from the Syrian capital, Damascus, to the Russian naval facility in the city of Tartous is, too.

As the car gets closer to Homs, smoke plumes start to appear — the first visual reflection of the fight taking place in the city that was regarded by the opposition as the capital of the revolution. Homs was one of the first cities to react after the first ignitions in Daraa in March 2011, and since then the city has been divided between pro- and anti-regime forces.

The statue of former President Hafez al-Assad greets visitors. On the statue's right, the road is open toward Baba Amr; on its left the road to Bab Sbaa is also open. Behind the statue, a checkpoint closes the road to the north, and the road to the Juret al-Shayah and Khalidiya neighborhoods is closed; these are the opposition's stronghold in the city.

Wherever one goes in Homs, the city's soundtrack comes from shelling. This changes nothing in the people's daily lives.